


Invasion of the Spawn

by Jaspre_Rose



Series: Puzzle Pieces [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:14:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 47,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29709393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaspre_Rose/pseuds/Jaspre_Rose
Summary: At a low point, the Doctor is feeling quite pitiful and sad when a small child pops into existence on the TARDIS, literally out of thin air... and then is followed by her seven siblings. Eight children. Apparently his future children. While he and his future wife are off delivering child number nine (why??), he and his children travel to another universe to collect his wife so they can actually, you know, start working on making that future happen.He's stunned to find out that woman is none other than Rose Tyler. What's more - she's developed an odd inability to age and an even scarier ability to keep him from regenerating when he's mortally wounded. That'll come in handy tomorrow.Will feature reunions with both Rose and Jenny, the poor Doctor dealing with Jenny's relationship with a daughter-stealing manchild, a little change to their futures, and an epilogue that has a fun nod to Gramma Rose & Some Weird Guy.
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, mentioned Metacrisis Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Series: Puzzle Pieces [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2182185
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	1. Enlightenment

His hearts were shattered. This life would never be the same.

He was all alone.

No more Donna. No more Jack. No more metacrisis him. No more Jackie (never thought he’d think _those_ words forlornly). No more Mickey. No more Martha.

No more Rose. So much for that future he thought he was finally getting with her.

A nearly unbearable pressure settled in his chest and he slid down, letting the jump seat catch him. Though, of course, with his luck, he still managed to only hit half the seat and dropped to the floor in a miserable heap. The Doctor rested his head against the seat and blankly stared in front of him while he attempted to get his thoughts into order. His life hadn’t been an easy one and he was used to doing just this thing by now, mentally locking up his thoughts and memories to make living each day a little easier.

It didn’t seem to work this time.

The pain. He felt raw and a rebellious tear had the gall to slip down his cheek! No, two. The insolence. He roughly cleared his throat and blinked, successfully putting a stop to that. He had to think positively. Sure, he’d likely be miserable for a time, but his friends... and Rose... would all be happy now. They wouldn’t know how much two broken hearts hurt, how the pain wouldn’t let him draw enough breath, how it might very well end up killing him that the children and grandchildren he and Rose would have had would never be born. He shuddered, let his eyes move to the console in front of him, and slowly stretched his legs out. He didn’t know why, but his future had been changed at Canary Wharf in a very big way. He supposed he was to blame in the end, because he was the one that sent her back to that other universe a second time. Stupid! He was so very… so stupid and so alone.

He let out a heavy sigh and finally prepared to stand. Without warning, a small child popped into existence between his ankles, its back to him, and his mind impossibly started humming.

“Impossible,” he murmured, needing to put word to how _impossible_ it truly was, staring at the child in awe and fear. Its mind was connecting to his, something he hadn’t felt since before the end of the war and, well, the few times he’d run into himself since or... “What?”

The little being tottered around and let out a warbling laugh upon seeing him, her arms reaching for him.

“Da!”

More small giggles escaped the little one as she wobbled closer to him. When she began to teeter and pout, her legs seeming to give out on her, he automatically caught the child in his arms and stared down at her in shock.

“And who are you, little one?”

She screeched excitedly, patting his cheeks with tiny hands, and he felt a small smile curl his lips.

“That is no answer, you know.” The Doctor held on to her as he moved his legs around and when the little girl eagerly wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight grip, he carefully pushed himself to his feet. “So how did you get on my ship, hmm?”

He didn’t want to get too excited, too ecstatic even, because this child was just learning to talk... but if he listened just right, it sounded like her response could have been the beginnings of Gallifreyan. Hopefully. It was completely likely he was just imagining that, though.

“Alright. Makes sense,” he said, indulging her, and was rewarded by another giggle. “And who are you again?”

“Da!”

“Your name starts with Dah? Well, what do you know? Mine does... too... Oh.” He met her eyes- brown, gold ring around the pupil, very beautiful, big, trusting- and nodded. “Were you looking for me, then? The Doctor?”

She shrieked, “Da,” in response.

“Took me a moment there. Sorry, sweetheart.” He settled the girl child against his hip and kept his arm around her back. He needed to figure out how she’d gotten onboard. “You’ve said Da twice now. I should’ve put two and two together, but I think you can forgive me. Right?”

She laughed and bounced up and down. “Ha ha baba. Mamamamamama. Da.”

“But that raises another question,” he replied to her gibberish. “Where are your parents?”

“Da, Da!”

“Oh, so I’m supposed to find them, am I?” The little girl rubbed her face against his arm and he didn’t even blink when he saw the drool and snot on his sleeve. Instead, he smiled at her. “Thank you. I’m sure I’ll need that later.”

“Paaahh!”

“Oh, you don’t say? That’s fascinating.” The fingers of his right hand flew across the keyboard, trying to pinpoint exactly how she’d gotten there, and he looked down at her again when he was waiting for the results of the TARDIS’s scans. She was yawning and rubbing her eye with one incredibly chubby fist. “Are we sleepy, then?”

“Ya ya. Da.”

“Well, no cradles in here, I’m afraid, but I’ve been told I make an excellent pillow. You go ahead-” The tot leaned her head against him and closed her eyes. The Doctor finished in a whisper, “and sleep.”

An hour later, the Doctor settled himself at the galley table with a cup of tea and watched the slumbering child curled up in his old cradle. The TARDIS had been kind enough to point him in the right direction and he’d promised her some extensive maintenance work in return. She’d hummed, as if amused by his promise but disbelieving. Oh, he’d show her.

He again sighed, though with less melancholy as earlier, and studied the young girl’s features. He had no idea where she came from, who she was, or how to return her home. The TARDIS wasn’t hiding the fact that she was withholding information from him and even seemed to be proud of it.

He didn’t know what to do.

The Doctor calmly sipped his tea and grinned a little when the girl snuffled, rubbed her face, and pouted out her bottom lip. She was dreaming. Thanks to their mental connection, which had grown stronger when she fell asleep and was unable to control it, he knew she was dreaming about her parents. Well, loosely. He had yet to see their faces. A feeling of love pervaded the entire dream and seeped into his body, replacing the ache in his chest. He shamelessly stayed linked to her mind and watched her dream progress. He learned so many things about her.

She liked mashed bananas and sweet potatoes. Corn had no appeal and she’d sooner spit out most meats not from earth than eat it. Her mother was the best at rocking her to sleep. Her father was having the most success at teaching her to speak. She had many sisters and brothers. Her name was Abigail. He heard another child, a brother, cooing the name and felt the child’s sense of understanding that was who she was. It was a very human name and that surprised him. For a child with such a human look about her and with an active mental connection to his, he hadn’t been expecting something so... normal.

The child’s garbled dream began tapering off so he was expecting it when she opened her eyes. She turned her head to the side facing away from him and it struck him that she was so very small, more of a baby than the toddler he’d originally thought her to be.

Who was this creature and where in the universe had she come from? She abruptly let loose a loud cry and by the time he’d picked her up, tears were coursing down her cheeks.

“Shh, Abigail,” he murmured, rocking her. He was glad he knew her name now because it seemed to calm her. “You’re alright. Waking up in a strange place isn’t fun, is it?”

Hiccups replaced sobs and the Doctor felt a damp cheek pressing against his neck. A surge of pride and contentment flowed through him. See, he could do this until he found her family. He still knew how to do the parent stuff. Why had he been so worried earlier? Right on cue, almost as if someone out there in the universe was having a laugh at his expense, a peculiar smell wafted towards his nose and his stomach dropped to his toes.

Now he remembered why he’d been so worried.

“Oh, no. No, no, no.” He ducked his head down, sniffed, and physically recoiled as much as he could without dropping the girl. “This isn’t funny anymore,” he told the TARDIS. “She needs to return home. Now. I will not change this.”

He stalked out of the galley... and nearly tripped over a basket on the floor. He stooped down with the child automatically clinging to him and one-handedly picked through the items in the basket. Disposable nappies, wipes, powder, so on and so forth. The makings of a good nappy change.

“You don’t understand,” he snapped, glaring at the wall and scooping the basket up. “It would be improper to change her nappy. No, wrong. So very, very wrong. I’m not her father, her uncle, or any other family member. I am a strange man and were she my child, I’d likely kill a bloke for changing her nappy, for touching her. I cannot. She needs to go home.”

For a time, he was able to ignore it with no small amount of guilt for leaving her in such an uncomfortable situation, though he again wasn’t any sort of family member and it would have been so inappropriate for him to do a nappy change, but he soon found he had no choice but to change her when the child began to whine and shift around. Next would come tears, he knew.

“Da,” she said almost pleadingly. “Dat, Dat.”

Since when could a possibly infant, possibly too small toddler beg like that? She was so intelligent. The guilt was already starting to gnaw at him before but now she was begging and he was starting to worry about how long she’d been wearing this particular nappy. Had she wet herself long before her nap? Was she developing a rash? The guilt tripled and he swallowed thickly, the discomfort of being put into the position he was in making tummy number two roil just a bit. Oh, and tummy number one decided to join the party, too. Great.

“Oh, alright,” he sighed. “I don’t really have a choice. I can’t leave you in that yucky thing, can I? I hope your mother and father won’t be too angry.”

She laughed like that was the funniest thing she’d ever heard and he sighed. Right. Nappy change. He could do this. The Doctor carried her down the hall and doubled back to look inside a room with a cracked door. _When_ exactly had there _ever_ been a nursery onboard?

He glanced between the room, the girl, and then back before shrugging and nudging the door completely open with his foot. An ornate changing table stood by the door and he gently settled the girl down. He then shucked his suit jacket and began rolling his sleeves up.

“Think you can stay still long enough, then?” She shrieked with laughter and clapped. “That’s not very comforting, you know.”

Her only response was a wobbly giggle.

It had been repulsive but was over rather quickly. He’d made sure she was completely clean and powdered, which had been indescribably uncomfortable for him. Very, very, very uncomfortable. No, there were no words that could ever describe how truly uncomfortable that had been. He made a mental note to profusely apologize to her parents later and fought the sticky straps of her nappy for a long time. Well, nappies. He’d ripped off both straps from the first nappy, one strap from the second, and finally succeeded with the third. By the time he’d snapped on a new snappy baby outfit thingy and was sliding on cute little matching bottoms and a jacket, he felt confident that he could do this again without messing up, though all the gods knew he was desperately hoping he wouldn’t have to. He stood Abigail up, his hands on her waist so she wouldn’t fall, and smiled at her.

Yes, he was damned proud of himself. He’d figured it out. Perhaps Rose wouldn’t be doing all the work in her universe, after all.

A cold, sick feeling slid down his spine and twisted his stomachs. His hearts clenched painfully and a quiet gasp full of pain slipped from his mouth. Abigail reached out and put her hands on top of his arms. His brows quirked down. She seemed to understand he was hurting. It blew his mind. A child as young as she shouldn’t be able to pick up on that. He’d even blocked it from their mental connection so as not to upset her.

“Luh. Da. Luh luh.”

Love. She was projecting love through their connection. She was talking about love! What? Her vocabulary was impressive.

“Yes, I did love her,” he admitted. “Still do, actually.” He picked her up, momentarily frowned, and then shook his head. “Though I’ve no idea how you knew that. Have I been showing you thoughts of her?”

Well, that would explain a lot. He really had to watch what he thought about. At least until he found a way to return this child.

“How about I find you something to eat and then we try again to get you home, huh? Does that sound good?”

“Da Da ta.”

He nearly dropped Abigail once he got to the galley. There was a young boy- definitely not a toddler, this one- standing in the middle of his galley and looking scared and confused. His expression cleared when he saw the Doctor gaping at him.

“Oh, my goodness!” he cried dramatically, arms thrown wide. “I am so glad you are here! How did you find him first, Abby?”

There was a second mind buzzing within his own. The Doctor stared. It was one of her siblings, a boy child. The one named Charles. Now how had he gotten onboard?

“Uh.” Not one of his more intelligent comments, this. “Right. Charles, right? At least that’s who Abigail thinks you are.”

“It’s Charlie,” the boy corrected huffily. “Mum picked out my name ‘cause y- Dad wanted to name me somethin’ dumb.”

He hadn’t missed the boy’s almost slip and immediately stepped forward.

“You almost said you,” he said accusingly. “Am I- or, rather, will I be- your father?”

The boy shuffled, eyes on the ground and hands behind his back, and the Doctor had his answer. All those children... His eyes widened and panic, fear, and a small thread of hope built within him. It would certainly explain a lot.

“Charles,” he began and shook his head. “Charlie, am I your father?”

Charlie shyly peeked at him and nodded.

“Which means Abigail is my daughter,” he continued. Charlie nodded again, seeming less shy, and the Doctor felt the air whoosh out of his lungs. Well, least he wouldn’t have to apologize for the nappy change. “Right. All your brothers and sisters...”

Charlie nodded eagerly. “Jen and Bets and Gibby and Sarah and Lou and Harry and Abby.”

“I’m their father?” he checked. “Their biological father?”

The boy didn’t seem confused by the word and nodded, smiling. It was hardly surprising, however, that he understood his meaning. A half-Gallifreyan child. His child. But then...

“Where is your mother?”

He hoped the child would also answer the question ‘who is your mother?’ without him needing to ask.

“She can’t come. You’re not allowed to see her. Not yet, at least. You said so yourself.” He paused and added, “Dad.”

“Oh.” He tried his best to ignore the panic and joy that one word brought him and instead tried to focus. “So how did you get here?”

“The TARDIS.” The Doctor finally noticed the slight whistling and realized Charlie must be missing a tooth and... yep, his front tooth. How cute. “You and Mum told her to.”

“Why?”

“I’m not s’posed to say. It’s Jen’s job.”

“Will I be receiving all of you, then?”

No, he wasn’t excited about that. Or panicky. Not that, either.

“Yup,” the little guy said smartly.

“Ahh. And remind me again. Just who’s your mother?”

Charlie’s brows inched up. “Nice try, Dad.”

Well, hell. The boy was smart. He was so proud of the son he’d have one day.

“Do I love her?” he asked quietly. “Your mum.”

“Mum always says ‘more’n life itself.’”

“Oh.”

The TARDIS hummed in amusement and then two thumps sounded from outside the room.

“You did that on purpose, Oldie!”

The amused humming became louder and the lights flickered. The Doctor’s eyes slowly drifted towards the ceiling, mouth hanging slightly open, immensely surprised by his ship.

“Yeah,” another voice agreed. “Geez, Oldie. Coulda been nicer.”

“Shhhh,” the one child nearly shouted. “Dad’ll hear you.”

“So?”

Oh, how sassy. He grinned.

“We’re not s’posed to say that word. It’s a bad word. ‘Member?”

A pair of children, a boy and a girl, came barreling into the room. They stopped abruptly, immediately seeing him, and the girl elbowed the boy.

“Told ya he’d hear.”

“Don’t look mad to me, but wow, Sarah, look at ‘im. He don’t look old!”

“Excuse me?” The Doctor asked.

“Now you’re gonna get it,” Sarah sang.

“Are not!”

“Are, too!”

“Are not!”

“Are, too!”

“Are not!”

“Are, too!”

A shrill whistle echoed through the room and the Doctor pulled his fingers from his mouth. Abigail giggled and bounced in his arms while the twins- they must be twins- looked at him a little sheepishly.

“Sorry, Daddy,” they murmured in tandem.

“There will be no arguing,” he told them. “Now I’ve got Abigail, Charlie, and apparently Sarah so far. You, young man. Are you Gibby, Lou, or Harry?”

The three older children started laughing.

“I’m telling Louisa you thought she’s a boy,” Sarah laughed.

“No, you are not,” the Doctor said forcefully and Sarah deflated. “Which brother is this?”

“I’m Gibby!” the boy announced cheerfully.

“Well, hello.”

“I’m hungry,” Charlie complained. “Mum didn’t feed us lunch.”

“What?”

What kind of woman wouldn’t feed her children?

“Yeah, she said you could and then she laughed,” Sarah informed him.

“Ah.”

All of them started begging for food after that. Even Abigail. Feeling a bit frazzled, the Doctor put Abby into a child seat he’d never seen before and soon had bowls of macaroni cheese and sausages on the table. Abby smacked at her food and Gibby- surely he had an actual name- pointed at the counter.

“She can’t have whole food, Dad,” he said, mouth full of food. “Oldie fixes it for her.”

Oldie? Again with that name. The Doctor picked up Abby’s food and turned to the counter. There was a small metal box on the counter and he knew it hadn’t been there that morning.

“Er, what do I do?”

“Just put the plate inside. The Old Girl will do the rest,” a young woman said from the door. The Doctor nearly dropped the plate in his haste to turn to her. “Hi, Daddy. I’m Beatrice. Charlie probably told you it’s Bets.”

“Beatrice,” he repeated. “Alright. How old are you? And them. How old is everyone?”

“Abby’s nine months old, Charlie’s four, and Gibby-” The Doctor made a questioning face and Beatrice smiled. “Gilbert, I mean, and Sarah are eight. I’m sixteen.”

“Bit of an age gap, don’t you think?”

“Well, you said I was the accident, but not as much as Jen.” Beatrice laughed and grinned while sitting down at the table. “You said you wouldn’t call me Bets.”

“I did?”

“Years ago, yeah. Betty.”

He felt relieved. “ _That_ I can use. Thanks.”

She smiled and the Doctor soon had figured out exactly what that new compartment did. It made their meal into baby food. Fascinating.

“Dad, I’m thirsty,” Gibby complained. “Do you got any juice?”

“I might, but I won’t be giving you any until you speak correctly.”

Where was he pulling this from? He nearly chuckled. He still had it after all these years.

Gibby briefly pouted. “Have.”

“Good.” He poured juice for the children and then looked back to Betty. The domestics of it all. He should be feeling itchy, but perhaps knowing all of this will happen no matter his feelings on the matter was the thing keeping the panic at bay. “Are you hungry, Betty?”

“We had lunch earlier.”

The Doctor’s smile fell away and his eyes landed on his future children. So much for still having it. They were all shamefaced and avoiding his eyes while shoveling as much food into their mouth as possible. Well, all except for Abby, who was currently painting herself with her macaroni cheese.

“Lying is a very bad thing, you know.”

They all shrugged and Betty rolled her eyes. Seemed this happened all the time.

“You’re not gonna get through to them, Dad. Not even Mum can... and she can be scary if she wants. Really, really scary.”

“Alright, then. Did you know only Abby and Betty are my children? I found you lot and I let Mum keep you.”

“Nuh uh,” Gibby denied.

“Lying to us ain’t gonna-” The Doctor gave her a look and Sarah sighed. “Isn’t gonna do anything, ya know.”

“How about this, then? Being my children, you should know I hate liars. With a passion. The next time I find out you’ve been lying, I’ll start chucking children into the vortex. I haven’t had you yet so it won’t bother me any. I can always make more. Ones that won’t lie.”

Absolute silence followed his statement and the Doctor did his best not to fidget. Perhaps he shouldn’t have said that. There was complete fear in his future youngest children’s eyes. Great and now he felt awful. He probably shouldn’t have gone straight to vortex chucking. Betty was looking between him and them, seeming uncertain.

“Okay, Daddy,” he heard three quiet voices say. He glanced at Betty, who seemed impressed. Welllll, he was impressive so that shouldn’t have surprised her. Scary, too, which was something he was going to have to work on before he started procreating.

“I expect Betty to keep me informed,” he bluffed. “That shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Nope,” Betty agreed.

“No lying, Daddy!”

“Good.”

He sent an apology to his future... wife? Just the mother of his children? Would Betty tell him? Unlikely.

“What’s taking everyone so long?” Betty wondered. “We were supposed to arrive in shifts so you didn’t freak out, but this is taking forever.”

“It took over an hour for your brothers and sister to arrive.”

“Yeah, but that was planned. Mum wanted you to have some alone time so you could get used to the idea of being a dad. Right now, I mean. My time, you love it.”

That was interesting but not wholly unexpected. He’d love being a father before.

“Do I?”

“Totally. I’m not supposed to know, but I overheard you begging Mum for another baby. Oh, wait. Oh, man. You know I heard that.” She pouted a little and then sighed. “Ah, well.”

He chuckled. “So I’m begging for more children. Odd. There aren’t many compatible... What species is your mother?”

“Um... I can’t tell you.”

“Why ever not?”

“I’ll lose my piloting privileges if I say. You and Mum both told me so.”

“Piloting... privileges.”

“Yeah. I’ve known how to pilot the TARDIS for ages now. You and Mum are teaching Lou and Harry now.”

“Piloting the... When did we first start teaching you?”

“When I was ten.”

He blanched. “Right.”

“...the galley. Where’s the galley, Oldie?”

“Who’s that?” The Doctor asked. “And what’s with Oldie?”

“Old Girl. Oldie. We’ve always called her that. She likes it.” The lights dimmed in agreement and the Doctor again felt surprised. That was getting to be annoying, the surprise. “She acts like a grandma and a super awesome aunt all at once.”

“Spoils you rotten and lets you get away with things that’d turn my hair white or covers for you when something goes wrong?”

“Exactly. Both.”

He’d have to remember that.

“So who are we expecting now?”

“Louisa. Lou, though. She hates her name.”

“Thanks for the warning.”

She was _ginger_. The Doctor had a brief moment of hair envy when he first laid eyes on Louisa. She was beautiful, just like his others, but that hair. Why not him? Just once! Louisa finally found him and smiled widely.

“You weren’t joking. You _do_ look like a mess...”

“What? I’ll have you know-”

“Does he know yet?” she asked Betty, who shook her head in the negative. “That explains it.”

“Know what yet? What aren’t you telling me?”

“That’s Jen’s job.”

He huffed. “Fine. How old are you, Lou?”

She beamed and he sent Betty a thankful look as Lou plopped down beside him.

“I just turned twelve. Least Mum says that’s how long it’s been. Never know when we’re onboard. You know how it is.”

He nodded.

“Did Mum say how long it’d be before Harry got here?”

“Soon. Dad said by this point he was pretty much ready for anything they could throw his way. Including the sink, apparently.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes but couldn’t disagree with his future self. A few minutes later, he was just passing his eldest girls cups of tea when a boy- Harry, he assumed- came strolling into the kitchen with a sonic screwdriver.

“He’s ten,” Betty commented. “Harold, by the way.”

“Alright. Why does he have a sonic?”

“It’s Jen’s,” Harry told him as he sat. “She forgot it.”

“Is she already here?”

“No.” Betty and Lou exchanged looks. Betty continued, “She’ll be here soon, though.”

His brow arched. “And how old is Jen, then?”

“Old.”

“Sarah,” Betty scolded. “She’s, um, she’s been alive almost twenty-two years. Or, well, I don’t know. None of us _really_ know, but Dad says that’s what her blood says. As far as her developmental stage, she’s approaching her thirties. Well, you think.”

“Twenty-one,” he mused, disregarding that thirties bit, because it didn’t make sense. “You weren’t kidding about her being the first accident, were you?”

Betty giggled.

“Can I have some tea, too?” Harry asked. “It smells good.”

The Doctor looked at Betty and she nodded before getting up to grab a cup for him. While his future children talked amongst themselves, the Doctor leaned his elbows on the table and looked around at them all, his mind racing. Near human appearance, strange brown-gold rimmed eyes, telepathic capabilities, human names, fantastic thoughts and emotions running through their minds and directing towards him. These would be his children. But why were they all here and why did they have such human names?

And, um, why was Abby trying to shove food in her ear? He quickly put a stop to that and then, when he heard the sound of jogging down the hall, he looked towards the doorway expectantly. Here came his last child, his daughter, Jen. Jennifer perhaps?

“Hey, Dad,” Lou said suddenly. “Don’t freak out.”

“Oh, yeah,” Betty remarked. “Good catch, Lou. Seriously, you’re gonna-”

No. Jen was Jenny. Genny. His generated anomaly. His... daughter.

“No,” he said. He was hallucinating. That had to be it. “Impossible. She died. You died.”

“Um. Well, no, I didn’t. Not permanently, at least.” Jenny glanced at her siblings and then gave him an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Dad.”

“No, you were dead,” he insisted and stood up to come closer. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Dad,” Betty said quietly, “it’s really her. You said so.”

“I did?” His daughter nodded at him and the Doctor looked at Jenny once more. Her brows were slightly lifted, but she remained silent until he was finished studying her. “Clearly alive, then, and I can feel you up here.”

He tapped his temple and Jenny nodded.

“Well, you would.”

He licked his lips. “Right. How did you survive?”

“Can’t tell you. Sorry, but you told me not to. You have to find out when you find me. That’s when you found out and you don’t want to change anything just in case.”

“When I… find you,” he repeated.

“Yeah. Should be soon.”

“I see.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. That was one piece of good news. He wouldn’t be alone much longer. “Why do your siblings think I don’t look old? Am I very old in your time?”

“No. You look the same. I’ll explain later.”

“Fine,” he huffed. “Can you explain everything else, then? Why did the TARDIS send you all to me? And what exactly don’t I know yet?”

“Oh,” Jenny sighed. “You’re gonna wanna sit down, Dad. Seriously. Sit.”

“Alright. Apprehensive now.”

Jenny scratched her cheek and looked at Harry. She held her hand out and he skipped over, dropped the sonic on her palm, and grinned over at him before rushing to his seat. The Doctor watched him sit and then focused on Jenny, who pushed out a deep breath.

“Okay.” Jenny cleared her throat and the Doctor became even more anxious. If this was difficult for her... “Mum- well, I call her Mum, but she’s obviously not my mum, because you’re like my dad _and_ my mum, but she’s always acted like my mum so maybe stepmum would be the more appropriate word. But then... That doesn’t fit, either, because-”

“Jenny,” the Doctor begged.

“Right. Sorry.” God, she sounded like Rose just then. He rubbed his chest and Jenny’s brows dipped. “Okay. Let me explain everything you don’t know and then I’ll explain why we’re all here.”

“Good.”

“Ehm. You fell in love with a human...” She briefly bit her lip. “Who isn’t human.”

“How exactly is that possible?”

“Uhhh. I can’t tell you yet. You told me not to.”

“...okay. Don’t know why I’d do that, but I’ll roll with it.”

She nodded. “You find her before you both find me. Um... Oh, this is hard. You’re a terrible person for having me do this.”

“I apologize. I’m sure I had no other choice.”

“True.”

“Though I could have heard the explanation straight from your... mother? Stepmother?”

“Ah. Well. No, you couldn’t have. That actually would have been a terrible idea.” He blinked at her and Jenny abruptly looked at her siblings. “You guys, go watch the tele until we’re done.”

The children obediently filed out without complaint, leaving Abby making an absolute mess of herself in her high seat. The Doctor swallowed and, once they were gone, he gave Jenny his best commanding look.

“Talk.”

“You fell in love with a human who isn’t human,” she repeated and then tacked on, “least not anymore.”

“One cannot simply change their species. One can undergo a process that can confuse scans, but…”

“She did. Somehow. She’s that… powerful. More than you ever knew. ‘Til now, of course.” Before he could ask her to clarify, Jenny rushed on. “You and Mum were always destined to be together and things happened that kept you apart, but the TARDIS and the universe couldn’t allow that to happen.”

“My TARDIS. She knows who this woman is?” Jenny nodded. “And she’s determined we meet?”

“That’s why we’re all here. Quit interrupting, Dad. Let me get this all out.”

“Sorry. Continue.”

“The TARDIS and the universe, as I said, couldn’t allow you both to stay separate. There were whole timelines where you both never met or you got split up for various reasons and the universe came to an end in each of them in one way or another. You and her being together… it’s for the good of the entire universe, Dad. I’m not exaggerating. I saw them. The timelines, I mean. We all did.”

“Our not being together means the universe ends?” He frowned at her. “That’s either the makings of a fairytale to tell you children or a poor excuse for the woman’s family. Was she pregnant before-”

“Before you got married? No. Obviously, Dad. Now shush.” The Doctor held up his hands. He’d married her? “I wasn’t joking. Being together made you take less risks at others’ expenses and allowed mum to properly help you.”

“I became reckless without her?”

“You would have. Fortunately, you found each other before any of that could start to happen.”

Well, he _was_ always a bit reckless when he traveled alone, that was true.

“Right. Carry on. I’m curious to hear where this is going.”

Jenny scratched her cheek again. She was clearly agitated and wasn’t quite sure how to proceed. Finally, she nodded and met his eyes.

“You’re madly in love with her, Dad, and she couldn’t imagine life without you. She was left somewhere with a man that was kind of like the man she was in love with, but he wasn’t completely like the other man. There were big differences.” She bit her lip again. “Because of who made him.”

That was odd wording when referring to one’s parents.

“So she was in love with another man and was settling for second best.”

She laughed a little. “Yeah, but she still loved him. He didn’t live long, though, before she was back on her own… and the thing is, Mum didn’t know she was different. She thought she was still a human. It took her a while before she realized something was wrong.”

“What exactly was wrong with her?”

“I told you. She changed into… something different. She was biologically a human, but… not. I can’t explain it any more than that at the moment.”

The Doctor sighed. “Fine. I suppose I’ll run my own tests when I see her.”

“You said you’d say that.”

“I bet I did,” he said, chuckling more from annoyance than anything else. “So what happened when she realized something was wrong?”

“We saved her,” Jenny intoned seriously. The Doctor gave her a look and she snickered. “Okay, I was trying to be dramatic. Really, she stayed by herself for a long time in the home she’d shared with her husband and then we saved her.”

“…we?”

“Yes. All of us. That’s why we’re here. You both sent us back so we could save her and unite you two. For the good of the universe _and_ the good of our family. Two birds, one stone, as Mum said.”

“Right. And why couldn’t I do this during your time?”

“One, Mum’s already there in my time. Two, she’s supposed to come to you. Three, you and Mum are a little busy.”

“What exactly are we busy doing?” He suddenly blanched and looked away. “Never mind. I don’t think I want to hear your answer.”

He had said he wanted another baby, after all.

“Dad,” she laughed. “Mum's in labor right now. You’re making her comfortable and getting her ready to go. That’s another reason we all came today. Jack said he wouldn’t do it again after we stayed there for Abby’s birth.”

“She’s having another child? But then why was I begging her for another if she’s already having one?”

“If I remember that conversation correctly, Dad, you were begging for another after this one is born.”

“Ah.” He rubbed the back of his neck and felt his cheeks heat. “Probably got a smack for that, didn’t I?”

“No. Mum said that was fine, but she wanted a year or so before the next one.”

He could only stare for the longest moment, trying to wrap his head around… everything. He was getting a headache.

“Right. No more about that. How exactly are we to save this woman?”

Jenny finally smiled. “I never thought you’d ask. We’re opening the walls between our dimension and the next. That’s where she was. Er, is.”

They could do that?

He had a ship full of Gallifreyan children, all with strong minds for their ages, and the TARDIS herself plus the universe – multiverse? – was determined to unite this woman and him. Of course they could. But if he could do that, he’d much rather save Rose than some woman he’d never met.

Then again, Jenny had spoken of the consequences should he and that woman never meet. He sighed, felt his heart break all over again, and nodded. Besides, Rose had his metacrisis now. She didn’t need him and he shouldn’t want to destroy whatever peace she might have now.

“Right. And we’re doing this now?”

“That’s why we’re all here, Dad. Come on. Cheer up… and clean Abby up, won’t you? We all want to make a good first impression. We’ll meet you in the control room.”

“Right, yes. Watch the children. Make sure they don’t touch anything. _Please_.”

Fifteen minutes later, after having changed his own clothing since he’d drenched himself with water trying to clean the infant up, the Doctor walked purposefully into the control room. Jenny looked at him curiously.

“Looks like the same suit, but it’s brand new. Your shirt and tie changed, too, didn’t they?”

“Your sister wouldn’t stop wiggling. I had no other choice.”

He certainly wasn’t dressing up for some woman he’d never met. Maybe he should go put his wet suit back on. When he realized how childish and stupid that thought was, he felt like smacking himself.

“Okay,” Jenny said easily. “We already know what to do and the TARDIS is gonna be doing the navigating. You just have to help.”

She slipped a papoose over her chest, took Abby from him, and settled her in the contraption.

“But... what?”

“Like I said, just help, Dad. We’ve got this.”

“If I’m not navigating, what exactly am I supposed to do?”

“Do whatever the monitor says to do when it pops up onscreen.”

“I’m just a pair of hands? What are you lot going to do?”

“We’re opening the dimension walls. You’ve been drilling all of us for months now. Well, except for Abby. She’s here more for moral support, I guess. Don’t see her being able to help.” Jenny smiled at the baby. “Plus, she’s really cute. I can’t wait to have one of my own.”

The Doctor’s knees buckled and the console was really the only thing keeping him up.

“Not funny, Jenny,” Betty scolded. “He believed you.”

“Oh,” the Doctor breathed. “I was going to say.”

“Not just yet, Dad. For a little while longer, I’m just gonna enjoy-”

“Shh!” a chorus of voices hissed. He suspected the children knew of a boyfriend in Jenny’s time, but he really didn’t want to know.

“Right. Enough of that. Let’s get this over with and get this broad onboard.”

Yes, he was aware he sounded completely unenthusiastic.

“I’m telling Mum he said that,” Harry stage whispered. His sisters giggled and Jenny hushed them all.

“‘Kay, Dad. Whatever the monitor says to do. Ready, guys? Focus.”

It was clear Jenny commanded some sort of respect from her siblings because they all immediately clutched the edge of the console and slipped into a deep, trance-like state. Even Abby’s eyes were closed and he wondered if she was asleep or actually helping her brothers and sisters.

He watched them all a moment, felt the TARDIS judder under his feet, and noticed words appear on the screen. He set to obeying all of the ship’s commands, more than once having to lean around one of his children to reach the right lever or pedal. A shrieking, grating whine started up and the Doctor held his breath. The TARDIS kept pushing onwards and he noticed all of the children’s brows were furrowed. He sincerely hoped there wouldn’t be a crash landing this time. He didn’t want any of the children getting hurt. He’d never stop blaming himself, he knew.

And then... the TARDIS made a smooth landing. The Doctor looked around and his children’s eyes popped open at the same time.

“Well,” Jenny said, smiling widely at him, “we’re here, Dad. Go say hello to your future wife.”

He wasn’t sure he wanted to leave the TARDIS, especially with all the children inside, but there was a building chorus of “Go, Daddy!” that he couldn’t quite disobey. He stepped to the door, sighed as he turned the handle, and looked back. Jenny was grinning.

“Make sure they don’t touch anything, Jenny, and no fighting,” he said pointedly. The twins fidgeted.

“Hey, Dad?” Jenny asked and took a step forward. “I know you’re gonna be surprised and think your mind’s playing tricks on you, but just remember there’s only one of her, too. You said so yourself. The TARDIS will tell you in a few months.”

“Right...”

“She is who you think she is.”

“Um... okay?”

The girl talked in riddles. Pushing out a sharp breath, he opened the door, took six steps outside, and found himself falling over a woman who’d come running out of nowhere. He landed on top of the woman, felt the breath rush out of him due to the knee lodged in his lungs, and looked down to berate the woman for her clumsiness, because really, who literally _ran into_ _someone_?

Rose Tyler’s beautiful eyes were staring up at him and shock ricocheted through his whole body. He remained hovering over her, his hands bracketing her shoulders, and just stared.

“Doctor,” she whispered and then wrapped her arms around his neck. “I never thought I’d see you again!”

She was crying and he couldn’t quite believe she was actually there, but Jenny had told him to believe she was who she appeared to be, that there was only one of her, and he almost couldn’t believe it was...

“Rose,” he said exultantly. She kept crying but gave him a hearts-stopping smile. “Oh... You’re...”

His future wife, the mother of his children. All of those children… and Rose was their mother… and he was their father and… In a distant part of his mind, he rejoiced as it occurred to him that he was still going to have his future with Rose, after all, that those children onboard wouldn’t be the only ones they had, that they would have adorable, sassy grandsons in the future and…

They caught each other’s lips at the same time. It vaguely dawned on him that the metacrisis was dead - Jenny had said as much - and Rose had been living without him for God only knew how long. Didn’t matter. He was here and he was never letting her go ever again.

Well, perhaps he should at least climb off her. Jenny cleared her throat once more, her back turned to them, and then daintily coughed. The Doctor chuckled against Rose’s mouth, stood up, and helped her off the ground.

“I’m just gonna put in a movie,” Jenny said inconspicuously. “Let you guys talk.”

Rose looked at him when Jenny was gone.

“My daughter. Made in a machine,” he explained quickly. “Not... We’ll talk about that later. How long’s it been?”

“Um... couple years.”

The Doctor studied her. They’d been kind years.

“I’ve missed you. I can’t wait to get you back onboard.”

She smiled widely. “I missed you, too.”

“Even with...”

She inhaled deeply, quietly.

“Dead eight years.”

He frowned. “Eight? You’ve been here that long?”

“I’ve been here ten.”

“Rose, I don’t - it hasn’t been that long for me. I left you and him... few days ago? Weeks? Months? I’ve lost track. How have ten years passed here?”

“Time moves at different speeds here, I suppose. They did the first time I was gone, too.”

“Makes sense.” He grabbed Rose’s hand, lifted it, and pressed several kisses to her palm and wrist. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t truly consider his mortality.”

“Don’t be sorry. He went peacefully.”

“May I ask...”

“Course, silly. He... was shot while we were out on a mission. We tried everything, but he slipped into a coma. I had to decide whether he should live like that for the rest of his life or if I should let him go. I don’t think he ever knew what was going on. I like to think it was like falling asleep for him.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“I am, too. He was a good man, Doctor. Although, when Pete told him he’d need an actual name if we were expecting to live on Earth, he threw one almighty fit and I almost considered leaving him. It was that bad.”

The Doctor chuckled. “I would.”

“He wasn’t exactly like you, though,” she said quietly. “I can’t explain it.”

Jenny’s words, ‘second best,’ came to mind and the Doctor nodded to show he understood.

“He was sort of like me, but since Donna helped create him, he was also a bit like her. Close, but not the same.”

“I knew it wasn’t all in my head. Mum said I was crazy and he never wanted to talk about it.”

“He knew,” the Doctor said with certainty. “He just didn’t want to acknowledge it aloud. Even as a human, I tried avoiding the important issues.” He finally looked around and frowned. “Where are we?”

“I live here now, but can’t this wait? Shouldn’t we be leaving before we can’t get back to our real universe?”

“No. We have time. I’ll explain later. You live here? It’s... isolated. Where are Jackie and Pete?”

“I’m not living with them anymore. We bought this house ten years ago and I never left. It’s peaceful... and a big alien hotspot.”

“Which explains how you immediately knew I was here.”

“Yeah.”

“Ten years.” He carefully studied her face. “You haven’t changed at all.”

She suddenly looked troubled.

“That’s another reason I live alone out here. I got tired of the vampire jokes.”

“Do you know what’s wrong?”

“I’m just not getting older.” She shrugged. “I’ve seen specialists of all sorts, from normal doctors to alien experts. They can’t find anything wrong with me.”

“The fact you aren’t aging like your fellow humans is a big clue that something’s going on.”

“Exactly. I’ve tried to stay away from Mum and Pete’s. They live pretty far away so it’s easy to do and I do up my makeup to make myself appear older when I go visit. So far they haven’t said anything.”

“I do wonder what’s wrong. I believe Jenny might have the answer.”

Rose nodded. “Doctor, how did you get here? I’d completely given up ever having you back in my life.”

“Do you really want to hear the full story? It’s... unbelievable.”

“You’re actually standing here in front of me right now. I’ll believe anything you tell me.”

“Very well. Ehm, well, earlier today, I was feeling quite sorry for myself. I was alone. I didn’t have you... or any of our friends. I was fully prepared to sink deeper into depression when a small child appeared between my legs. No, my ankles. Between my legs just sounds... considering... Anyway, at the time, I thought she was a toddler. She’s an infant, Rose, but she’s incredibly intelligent. She’s nine months old and her name is Abigail or Abby.”

“How did she get onboard?”

“The TARDIS - her present, my future.”

“Wow. I didn’t know that could happen.”

“I hadn’t thought to ever do it myself. Not until now that is.”

“Right. Future you.”

“Yep. An hour later, I find a young man in my galley. His name is Charles or, as he prefers, Charlie. He’s four.”

“Two little kids randomly showed up in the TARDIS?”

“It gets better. Next came eight-year-old twins, Sarah and Gilbert. Gibby for short.”

Rose giggled a little. “Right. You and twins. My God, that’s... four kids. How did you not freak out?”

The Doctor chuckled but ignored her question for now.

“Beatrice, aged sixteen, goes by Betty, came next. Informed me her siblings were liars. They’d conned me into making macaroni cheese and sausage for them.”

“Already eaten, hadn’t they?”

“Even you knew,” he huffed, exasperated. “How did I not suspect I was being played?”

“They’re little kids. When’s the last time you took care of little kids? Besides today, I mean. I was around Tony for a few years so I expect that kind of stuff now.”

“Well, I had Mickey.”

“Oh, shut up,” Rose said fondly.

“Sorry. Couldn’t resist. After Betty, Louisa, aged twelve, arrived. She’s ginger.”

“Oh,” she laughed. “You’re jealous of a little girl, aren’t you?”

“I had a moment of hair envy. Perhaps. Won’t admit to it.” Rose snorted. “Harold or Harry, who is ten years old, came next.”

“So we’re up to... seven kids. Oh, my gosh. Where were they coming from?”

“The TARDIS sent them to me. Jenny, the daughter I created on my own-”

“In a machine,” Rose repeated.

“Exactly. She’s twenty-three now. She was the last to arrive.”

“Babies to adults,” Rose mused. “Why did eight kids show up in the TARDIS?”

“They... came to help me. Told me they needed me to save their mother and my future wife. They made it possible to get here. The TARDIS navigated, which I suppose explains the smooth landing.”

“But wait a minute.” Rose frowned at him and he waited for her to figure it out. “Oh. My god. Those kids... Your wife,” she breathed. “You came... She’s... me?”

He smiled happily. “Yes.”

In the next moment, before he could blink or pull in a breath, Rose had pushed him to the ground and started giving him the snog of a lifetime. When she pulled up for air, the Doctor stared up at her dazedly.

“And how aren’t you freaking out about the kids and stuff?”

“Too happy.” He licked his lips. “Much as I’d love to defile you right here and right now, happy reunions and unresolved tension and all that, we do have a TARDIS full of children I’m sure you’d like to meet.”

Rose suddenly looked to the closed door and seemed horrified. She scrambled off him and hurriedly tidied up her appearance. Amused beyond belief and so ecstatically happy, he leaned up on an elbow and laughed.

“Stop laughing, Doctor. What if they saw that? They don’t need to see... We’ll be their parents,” she said in shock and then looked worried. “They don’t need to see that!”

“Rose, Jenny put on a movie for them. I don’t think she meant the monitor in the control room.”

“Well, still, any of them could have come out and seen us.”

“It’s not as if we were doing anything terribly naughty. We were kissing. That’s what mummies and daddies do, Rose.”

He grinned impishly, remembering the twin grandsons they’d met on Lacadia who’d said he was “always doing weird things to Gramma ‘cause that’s what Grampas do.” He was gonna have fun with that, he was sure.

“We’re not their mummy and daddy yet, Doctor.”

“I think they would disagree.”

“In this time. Right now.”

“To them, we are. Doesn’t matter to them that we haven’t had them yet because we’re already mummy and daddy in their eyes.”

“I guess.”

“Well, do you want to meet them?”

“Yeah...” Rose abruptly grinned. “I really do. I bet they’re beautiful.”

“They are, Rose. They truly are.”

Rose led the way into the TARDIS, never once looking back, and the Doctor swore the TARDIS sounded relieved when Rose placed a hand on the wall. The Doctor closed the door behind them, bypassed Rose on the ramp, and headed down the hall. She fell into step beside him and he automatically reached for her hand, much as he’d always done with her.

“What if I don’t know how to talk to them?”

“They’re speaking English. Even if they weren’t, the TARDIS would automatically translate it in your head. Why, I just said most of that in French.”

“Yeah, I know. You always get this look in your eye when you’re not speaking English and I mean, I had assumed our children were speaking English, Doctor, but what if - I don’t know - I feel awkward or something? Think it’ll hurt their feelings?”

“I doubt it, Rose.”

“Good. Um, do you know when they’re going back? Can they stay a while?”

He smiled. She didn’t want them to leave yet and she hadn’t even met them.

“They’re only here today because you and I are busy in their time. According to what I heard, you’re in labor and I’m trying to hurry things along.”

“But that’s... That is so many children.”

“I’ve already started begging for another.”

“What? Before I’ve even had this one?”

“You insisted upon an entire year to recover, but you gave into my demands.”

“Doctor, that’s ten kids. Ten. Ten I’ll be carrying and... Ten. Are we trying to populate a planet or something?”

The Doctor chuckled. “Perhaps. I’m sure we could if we tried hard enough.”

Rose blushed prettily and then pressed a hand to her cheek.

“Wow,” she breathed. “I haven’t blushed in years. Last time I did, your metacrisis - he, uh, he chose Corin ‘cause I wouldn’t call him Doctor.” The Doctor gave her an understanding smile and a small, breathy laugh escaped her. “He, uh, he was trying to get me to have sex with him on the kitchen table.”

What a delightful image.

“Why would you blush about that?”

“We weren’t alone. We had guests. Quite a lot of them, in fact. It was New Year’s Eve and he was so drunk. He never could control the volume of his voice when he’d been drinking.” She smiled. “Anyway. Felt good to do it again.”

“I see a lot of that happening in the future. Blushes, Rose. Blushes everywhere - in every room, on every planet, at every meal.” Lips curling, he briefly quirked his brows up. “On every table.”

She blushed yet again.

“Stop it. What if the kids hear you?”

“Some of them are young enough that they might not understand me.”

“And if they’re not too young?”

“Then we’ll let mummy and daddy tell them all about it.”

“Did you forget that’s supposed to be us? No matter what, we’ll be the ones stuck trying to explain why Mummy’s blushing every time Daddy opens his mouth.”

The Doctor opened his mouth to say something to that, something that would have had her blushing to her toes, he was sure, but he heard the children down the hall. Deciding to behave for now, he closed his mouth, smiled at her, and hurried them towards the room.

Rose peeked around the doorway and the Doctor carefully watched her reaction. She gasped, looked at him, and then let go of his hand so she could step into the media room. The children turned to her and he noticed Sarah, Gilbert, and Charlie seemed surprised.

“You don’t have a baby,” Sarah pointed out.

“Um.”

“Silly Sarah,” Betty said in a singsong voice, getting a smile from her sister. “That’s not mum from our time.”

“But she looks the same.”

The Doctor and Rose shared a look.

“Yes, she does. Still isn’t her.”

“Huh. Cool.”

“Did you kiss her, Daddy?” Charlie asked. The Doctor briefly shared a look with Rose before turning back to the boy.

“Ehm, yes, I did. Why?”

Sarah frowned. “That’s what mummies and daddies do, isn’t it, Daddy?”

Rose looked at him, one brow arched at a high angle, and the Doctor laughed loudly and delightedly. He _knew_ he was going to have fun with that!

“Doctor? It’s not funny.”

“Right, right. Children.” Oh, wait. Children. His children. Both times they’d kissed, one or the other of them had been on top of the other. He was sure that hadn’t looked innocent. He cursed under his breath. “Sorry, Rose.”

Charlie, Sarah, and Gibby’s eyes widened.

“You said a bad word!” Gibby yelled. “I’m telling Mummy.”

“Mummy heard you,” Jenny pointed out. “She’s right there.” Rose nodded when Gibby looked at her. “They didn’t see anything, Dad. Well, not today. That’s just something you say a lot.”

Somehow fighting off another laugh, the Doctor’s lips merely curled and - yes! - Rose blushed again. She elbowed him and a gleeful laugh finally escaped. He was already having fun with it and they hadn’t even had any children yet. Consider him chuffed.

“Right,” she said, sitting by the twins, “your daddy’s naughty. I think he does it on purpose.” She looked at him suspiciously and he grinned unrepentantly. He would be, yes, when the time came. “I knew it. Don’t ever become like him. Please.”

Jenny laughed and Betty grinned at her. Charlie crawled on her lap and Rose studied him, soft smile on her lips.

“Or,” he added, “at least wait until you’re grown.”

Rose sighed deeply and looked at him. “Ten kids with you for a father. I’m gonna go mad.”

“Ah, unlikely.” He stood beside Rose, still unwilling to let her out of his sight, and smiled at the children. “What do you think? Is she going to go mad?”

“Oh, it’s really unlikely,” Betty assured them. “Hasn’t happened yet, at least.”

“Good. Now introductions. Rose, that’s Charlie on your lap.”

“Hello.”

“Hi, Mummy,” Charlie replied, whistling a little as he talked.

“Goodness. You’re so cute.”

“The twins,” the Doctor said, “Sarah and Gibby.”

“Hello,” Rose said, giving them the same smile she’d given Charlie earlier. “You have your brother’s eyes. Actually, you all have the same eyes... Wow. They’re so pretty.”

“Thank you,” Lou said; Rose looked at her.

“Oh, my. Lou, your father is right to be jealous of your hair. It’s so pretty.”

“I know. Dad’s always been envious of my hair.”

“He should be. Alright. Let’s see. I’ve met Charlie, Sarah, Gibby, and Lou. That means you’re Betty and you’re Harry.”

Betty and Harry nodded and Rose looked at each of them in turn. The Doctor found himself watching Rose instead.

“What do you think?” he asked curiously.

“Well, I think Betty’s become quite a lovely young lady.”

“She has,” he agreed, “and she looks a lot like you.”

“Yes, she does.” Betty held out her hand and Rose squeezed it a moment. “And Harry, you seem like you might be the one who helps your dad when he’s tinkering.”

Harry looked surprised. “How do you know that?”

“You’re toying with a sonic right now and acting like you know your way around it.”

The Doctor looked at Harry in surprise. He hadn’t caught that earlier. Harry grinned and Jenny patted her pockets a moment before giving her brother a look and holding out her hand.

“I do help Dad. The girls aren’t interested in that stuff.”

“Too busy spending time with their mum,” Jenny remarked, “but Harry fancies himself a Time Lord in training. Quit stealing my sonic, Harry.”

The Doctor bit his lip and gave Harry a proud look. His boy. He wanted to follow in his footsteps.

“Good man,” he found himself saying.

“Thanks, Dad,” Harry said, preening under his gaze. “Oldie seems to approve, too.”

“Oldie?” Rose asked.

“Old girl. The ship.”

“Wonder where they got that,” she said, private smile on her lips. He looked at her curiously, but she didn’t explain. “So that leaves Jenny and Abby.”

“Hello,” Jenny greeted and then turned Abby around. “Wave for Mummy, Abby.”

Rose’s gaze dropped to Abby’s face and the Doctor smothered a grin. Abby reached for Rose from her spot across the room on Jenny’s lap so Jenny helpfully came over and deposited Abby in Rose’s grasp. She had to lean a bit around Charlie to comfortably hold Abby to her, but she didn’t seem to mind. Jenny perched on the armrest closest to Rose and Rose didn’t seem to notice much, but he did.

“Oh, you’re so precious. How do you all have exactly the same eyes? With the exception of Jenny, of course. Would’ve thought there’d be some differences with all of you.”

“Gallifreyan father,” Jenny said, “not quite human mother.”

Rose stared at her. “Not quite human?”

“Biologically a human, but not quite a human at the same time. Dad said your body is functioning as a human, but being exposed to vortex energy-” Jenny gave them a look and the Doctor remembered Rose as Bad Wolf “-and then getting hit with the metacrisis’s life energy when he died-”

Rose gasped and the Doctor gave her a sharp look.

“You never said the energy that created him, my regenerative energy, hit you when he died, Rose.”

“I’d honestly forgotten until now. No one else saw it happen and the room was full so I thought I’d had a temporary break from reality or something.”

He swallowed thickly. “That shouldn’t have happened.”

“But it did.”

Rose frowned. “Am I ever going to age?”

“Dad’s run tests, but you’re not aging. Least not yet.” Jenny looked between him and Rose. “Remember what I told you earlier, Dad, about the universe and the TARDIS?”

The Doctor nodded. “I do.”

“I didn’t tell you everything. Couldn’t at the time, but I can now.” Jenny focused on Rose. “So, um, you and Dad were always destined to be together, even when things happened that kept you apart. The TARDIS and the universe needed you to be together. We all did.”

“But why? I don’t understand.”

“Separate, the universe ends in one way or another in every timeline. Together, Dad keeps saving the universe with your help and you make sure he doesn’t die while doing it.”

“But why me?”

“You’re Rose Tyler. You’re the woman who changed her own race, who became something new, while desperately trying to save Dad. We call it the Rose race.” Jenny laughed and the Doctor wondered if Rose could see the near hero worship in Jenny’s eyes. “That has never happened before. You’re more powerful than either of you ever knew.”

“I still don’t understand. Why _me_?”

“You can’t change fate and you certainly can’t explain it. All I know is that when Dad was first created, long before his first regeneration ever happened, you both were destined to be together. That’s why everything’s happened the way it has with you two. Separated not once but twice by entirely different dimensions, and yet… you both impossibly found your way back to each other. There’s always been a reason.”

“The universe,” Rose said quietly, looking deep in thought, “and our destinies.”

“Exactly.”

“Jenny, I’ve already heard all of this.”

“I’m getting to the good part, Dad.” Jenny exhaled quietly. “The universe would be radically different without my father around to save people, planets, and entire civilizations at times.”

“I know.”

The Doctor looked at Rose in surprise. She really believed that?

“You’re not quite human,” she repeated, smiling, “and Dad’s a Time Lord.”

Rose frowned. “Jenny, I know that. All of that.”

“Right.” Jenny laughed nervously. “Well, you’re not aging, but… Dad… can. He can run out of regenerations one day and then… there’d just be you… and us. For a long time, yeah, but then...”

Rose shivered. “That’s a terrible thought.”

“I know, but it’s a bit impossible right now, possibly forever. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“Why?” he and Rose asked in unison.

Jenny fidgeted. “The first time it happened…” She pulled in a deep breath. “Shortly after finding me - the day after, in fact - Dad was fatally wounded. He was close to regenerating – would have been his last form - and you… grabbed his arm. You wouldn’t let him go, even when he was yelling at you to get back. I remember. Energy leapt from your body into his and his regeneration stopped in its tracks.”

“What?” the Doctor asked in horror. “I stole life energy from her?”

“Mum said you’d react like that. I thought it was funny at the time. Not so much now.” She bit her lip a moment and avoided looking at him or Rose. “That’s what I meant when I said you made sure he didn’t die while you were out saving the world. From what we’ve seen since I was found, you can’t die and he can, but you have the ability to keep him alive.”

Rose stared at her in shock.

“I kept him from dying? From changing? How?”

“I can’t – Mum – sorry, I – I call you Mum now. I tried to explain to Dad earlier about me calling you Mum, but I think I annoyed him a little bit, because it really didn’t make much sense.”

“Jenny,” Rose pleaded. “I don’t care what you call me. Just explain how I was able to keep him alive.”

“Destiny,” Jenny said simply. “He needs you and the rest of the universe needs him. He saves the day and you save him if need be. I don’t know how it works, but it doesn’t harm you. It just… saves him. You even saved him once when you were carrying Betty. He didn’t know about her at the time, but he found out shortly afterwards.”

“She was pregnant and saved me? What if that had harmed the child?”

“It didn’t,” Betty insisted. “I’m perfectly fine. Thank you very much, Dad.”

“It really didn’t, Dad,” Jenny insisted. “You ran tests and everything once she told you. Nothing was wrong with her.”

The Doctor and Rose shared a long look.

“Is she inhibiting my own aging?” he asked, eyes on Rose.

“Yeah.”

Rose finally looked away and nodded to herself. Something seemed to occur to her after a short moment and a surprised chuckle escaped her. Grinning, she peeked at him and then shook her head.

“I should have figured it out then,” she said quietly and then raised her voice. “Well, I think that’s enough serious conversation. We have to leave sometime, but if you ask nicely enough, maybe Daddy will take you to meet your grandparents and your uncle.”

“Oh, Rose,” he groaned. “Jackie Tyler? Why?”

“She’s my mother and I’m not swanning off without telling her goodbye. Besides, I think your children would like to meet her and Pete.”

“And our uncle,” Gibby voiced.

“And their uncle,” Rose added. “Doctor?”

“I suppose I could do that. It’s not like we’ll be able to travel over here anytime soon.”

“Not until the kids are older,” Jenny agreed.

“Very well,” the Doctor sighed. “Let’s go meet Grandma and Grandpa.”

“And our uncle!” Gibby huffed. “Nobody ever remembers Uncle Tony! Gosh.”

There was a jam at the door. A herd of children ranging in age from four to twenty-three nearly ran him over trying to get out of the room and down the hall to the control room. Rose followed behind with Abby safely tucked against her chest and gave him a fond smile.

“Thank you, Doctor. Thank you so much. I wouldn’t want Mum to show up one day after weeks without a phone call just to see I’m not there. I always phone on Saturdays.”

“Don’t do much anymore, do you?”

“My husband died, the love of my life was in another universe, and I’m not getting older. What was I supposed to do?”

“Valid, Rose. I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”

She shrugged. “It was a quiet life. Worked for a branch of Torchwood for a while, but it wasn’t the same once Corin died. He may not have been you, but he was still a great friend and I did love him.”

“Ah. I understand. What did you do after…?”

“Oh, I retired and started housing alien species in need of temporary shelter. Ship breaks down, husband found you cheating, mother-in-law visiting the summer.” She and the Doctor shared a laugh. “Although, one time, I got a lovely couple on honeymoon. I loved them. I really did. They were visiting from some place called Brihi.”

“I’ve literally never heard of Brihi.”

“Different dimension, Doctor. Different species and planets sometimes.”

“I suppose. Odd. So you’ve been running an alien inn for the last eight years and no one has noticed?”

“Yeah, Torchwood noticed, but they know me. I’m the one they go to when they need help or something.”

“Rose Tyler,” he said proudly, grinning. “This dimension’s ultimate alien expert.”

Though grinning, Rose rolled her eyes.

“Anyways, they knew what I was up to, but they also knew I could handle myself, my guests, and the 34th century human who’s been helping me for the past three years. She’s quiet, doesn’t really talk much, but she’s nice and our guests always seem to like her.”

“Time traveler?” he asked curiously. “Did they get stuck?”

“Divorced her wife and felt she needed a change. New house, new century.” Rose frowned. “Guess the inn will be hers now. I just sort of ran out of there yelling she could have it all if I don’t come back.”

He smiled, feeling cheerful and so terribly lucky that she’d been prepared to drop all and leave just to stay with him. Fortunately for her, she did not have to do that.

“Will you need anything before we leave, Rose? We have the time.”

“They’re just things. Memories matter more to me.”

The Doctor nodded. “I do understand that. Very well, in fact.” Rose smiled at him and he nudged her shoulder with his arm. “So this inn. How exactly did you get away with housing aliens? Humans are oblivious but I'm sure someone would have noticed.”

“Oh, it was easy. Just keep them out of public view and disguise them well when they want to go for a wander. We’re pretty isolated out here. No city for miles and no one wants to drive all the way out here for anything. Not even food delivery. I had to learn how to cook.”

The Doctor chuckled. “You already knew how to cook.”

“Not well. There’s a reason we always went out before.”

“Do I even have a cooker in the galley?” he joked. “I’ve never noticed.”

“Oh, stop it.” She laughed and Abby rubbed her face on Rose’s chest. “How much do you think Mum is going to freak out once she sees all the kids?”

“Ooh.” He sucked in a breath. “Probably a lot. A lot of grandchildren here.”

“And more on the way.”

“Yeah.” The three of them entered the control room and the Doctor smiled when he saw the children circled around the console. “Alright. Off to see the family, then. Think we should tell your mother everything?”

“Not today, I think. Maybe just the marriage and children. Ease her into it.”

The Doctor nodded. “Can’t imagine it would be easy hearing your daughter isn’t quite human anymore.”

“And that she’ll marry an alien one day and have all of you guys,” she said, looking around. “She’ll probably try spoiling you.”

Charlie nodded. “Yeah.”

“Met your gran before, have you?”

“And Grandpa Petey and Uncle Tony.”

“Petey,” the Doctor said.

“Leave ‘im alone, Doctor,” Rose scolded. “He’s just a little boy.”

“He’s just a little half-Gallifreyan. Petey, Rose. He said _P_ _etey_.”

“He’s also half-me and I think Petey is cute.”

He gave up when a traitorous grin crept onto his lips. Rose smiled at him and he turned to the console.

“Right. Betty, Harry, and Lou, driving lesson. You lot – Rose, Abby, Charlie, Sarah, Gibby – hang on to something. Jenny, you want to help?”

“Sure do,” she replied, smiling.

The five of them circled the console while Rose and the children grabbed the railing by the door. Charlie and Sarah parked their little bottoms on the ramp while Rose remained standing with Abby and Gilbert. The TARDIS moved and landed so well when there was more than just himself manning the console. He should have had children ages ago!

Then, of course, he blinked stupidly for a moment when that thought jogged back through his mind. How ridiculous. He chuckled and checked the monitor. They’d arrived.

“Outside those doors-” The children were through the door before he could say another word. “Well. Seems they’re eager.”

“Mum’s gonna have a fit.”

“We should probably go find her before they do.”

“Yeah.”

Unfortunately, the children found Jackie first. Rose, Abby, Jenny, and he rounded a corner and saw Jackie besieged by a small legion of children. Jackie looked up and focused on Rose a moment, looked surprised, and then seemed to notice him standing beside her.

“Doctor,” she yelled. “How the bloody hell-”

“Gran! Ommmm!” Gibby yelled. “I’m telling Mummy! Mum, Mum, did you hear what Gran said?”

“Gran cursed,” Sarah added excitedly. “She’s in trouble.”

“Rose, what’s going on? How is he here? Who are all these kids? Why are they calling me Gran? And why do you look so…”

Jackie didn’t finish her question.

“Mum, the Doctor showed up today.” She licked her top lip. “And I’m going back with him.”

“Oh, Rose,” Jackie said sadly, “I’m glad he found you. You haven’t been the same since you-know-what happened. “

“I’ve already told him everything. He understands.” Rose cleared her throat. “Right. These…” She laughed. “These are going to be our kids someday, Mum. They came back to help him find me.”

“We get married first,” the Doctor added, “or at least I think we do.”

“You do,” Jenny affirmed.

“Excellent. See? We do it proper.”

“Rose.” Jackie sounded slightly alarmed. “There are seven children here. You’re going to have seven children?”

“Actually.” The Doctor grinned. “Ten so far. Jenny here is my daughter. Born in a machine, claims Rose as a mum. The Rose from the children’s time is in labor with our ninth child.”

“And I’ve already promised a tenth after a year.”

The Doctor grinned. “Yep.”

“Pete,” Jackie called out, eyes wide. “Pete, get out here. Rose is here. Bring Tony. You need to see this.”

“Did you say Rose?” Pete showed up and the Doctor could hear rapid footsteps behind him. “Tony, look. Your sister’s here… with a crowd. And- Oh, good god. Doctor?”

“Hello,” he greeted and waved. “Popped over to steal the future missus. Meet your future grandchildren.”

“Future… missus? You’re marrying Rose?”

“Will be, yes. Now. Names. You need names.” The Doctor put a hand on Gibby’s head and gently guided him to turn to face Pete. “This is Gilbert.”

“Dad,” Gibby whined. “It’s Gibby, Grandpa Petey.”

“Grandpa Petey,” Pete mused. “I quite like that.”

Rose grinned.

“Right. Of course you do. Gibby, one half of a set of twins. Sarah?” Sarah spun from looking at Jackie and grinned at Pete. “Ah, there! Sarah. The infant in Rose’s arms is Abigail.”

“Or Abby,” Rose added, turning and waving Abby’s arm in one incredibly adorable hello.

“Or Abby. Jenny’s there.” Jenny waved. “Beatrice – yes, I know – Betty.” Pete and Jackie nodded. “Charles – where’s Charlie? Charlie?”

Rose jumped and the Doctor looked behind her – lovely bum, she had – in order to see Charlie peeking out from behind her leg.

“Charlie, who’s hiding behind me.” Rose glanced at the Doctor. “Guess he must be shy. Lou-”

“Was born Louisa, but she hates that name.”

“Right. She’s the redhead.” Lou smiled widely at him and tossed her hair. “Harry’s beside you, Mum, and wants to grow up to be like his father.”

“I think that’s everybody. Oh, wait. Tony. Tony, these are going to be your nieces and nephews one day.”

Tony, who must be going on twelve by now, smiled crookedly.

“That’s cool, Rose.”

“They’re all so… they have the same eyes. Whose eyes are those?”

“Ours,” Rose said uncertainly. “Anyway, Mum, I would stay longer, because we won’t be able to return until the children are born and then old enough to help him get back, but I don’t know how long we can stay here.”

“We can get back at any time,” Sarah protested.

“Yeah,” Jenny said, “that’s true, but Mum and Dad said not to stay when we got here. We have to go back soon. Mum should be about done and don’t you want to meet the new baby?”

“Short labor,” the Doctor noted.

“I did say you were trying to help along her labor. You’ve got your methods by now and they work. Quickly. Mum’s grateful.”

“I already am and I’ve not even-” Rose cut off mid-sentence. “Anyway, the next time we come…”

“It won’t be too long for them,” the Doctor assured her. “The TARDIS handles better with more drivers.”

After several teary goodbyes, the Doctor, Jenny, and Rose herded the children back to the TARDIS. While Jenny locked the door, the Doctor and Rose did a headcount.

“All here,” Rose said. The Doctor finished his own count and nodded. “Should probably head back. Jenny, how will you know when you have to leave?”

“As soon as you’ve had the baby and cleaned up and everything, we’ll have a two-minute warning and then the TARDIS will send us back.”

“Two-minute warning. That’s it?”

“Yeah. Long enough for goodbyes.”

“But... we’ll miss you.”

“Just means you have to hurry up and find me and then….” Jenny grinned and looked at her siblings. “I think you know what comes next, Mum.”

“Jenny,” the Doctor said, horrified. “Stop it right now.”

She giggled. “It’s so easy winding him up.”

“She is an adult, Doctor, and all of your children are very smart. There’s no way she doesn’t know about that kind of stuff.”

“Doesn’t mean I like hearing about it,” he said and forcefully stabbed a button on the console. “Get ready to open the walls again. Rose, sit on the jump seat, I suppose. Easy travel, this.”

“I’ll need Abby. I felt her helping last time.”

“Felt?” Rose asked.

“In my head. We connected our minds and then opened the walls as one.”

“Brilliant, you are. All of you.”

Jenny preened and settled Abby in the papoose she was once again wearing - No, he didn’t like the sight of it at all. She was never having children. Well, maybe she could. One day. Far in the future. Far, far in the future. He scowled.

“You can’t have children until you’re one-hundred.” Rose looked at him, startled by his sudden statement, and the Doctor laughed at himself. “I can’t believe I said that out loud.”

Jenny grinned. “I’m holding you to that number.”

Rose gave her a look and then snorted. “What’d he tell you before?”

“Three-hundred.”

The Doctor gasped. “I take it back. I meant three. I _said_ three.”

“You said one, Doctor,” Rose commented. “And that’s a reasonable age. I’ll be having children at a much younger age.”

“Yeah, but she’s...”

“I know. Least she’s not human. They have children as early as their teens.”

The Doctor felt distinctly ill.

“Don’t get any ideas, any of you,” he said slowly and received a few laughs from the older children. He grimaced at Rose. “We’re never landing the TARDIS once they’re born. No landing means no boys, girls, others, or undecided to worry about.”

“Doctor.” Rose chuckled. “Come off it.”

“They’re still children. All of them.”

“They’re gonna grow up one day. You do know that, right?”

He looked around at all his future children and saw babies. Infants. Nappies and dummies and blankies. When had they transformed?

“Not allowed,” he finally responded and blinked. His children were once again their proper ages. Rose giggled but didn’t say anything else. Luckily. “Right. No more of that. Promise?”

“I promise. No more of that.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

Their return was markedly smoother with Rose onboard and the Doctor finally started to believe Jenny’s story about their supposed entwined destiny. The moment they were drifting in the time vortex, a loud alarm started blaring around the control room and down the halls.

“That’ll be it,” Jenny said and smiled. “See you again soon.”

It felt like less than the promised two minutes. Rose was watery eyed by the time the children were gone and he was standing stoic and silent beside her. She sniffed and turned to smile at him.

“I miss ‘em already.” He nodded. Incredibly, he did, too. “Can’t wait to have ‘em.”

A large smile bloomed on his lips.

“Why, Rose.” He chuckled. “We have to get married first. I did promise your mother we’d do it proper.”

She nodded. “You did. Let’s hope this one goes better for me. Last time-” She laughed and wiped her eyes. “Your- Corin stepped on my train and ripped my dress. Put my knickers on display in front of the whole church. I’d picked them out for that night so there wasn’t much there.”

She started giggling and the Doctor covered his mouth to quiet his own laughter.

“I will do my best not to reveal your knickers to anyone but myself.”

“Good enough.”

They grinned at each other and, just as he’d opened his mouth to actually ask her to marry him, an alarm started buzzing and they turned to the monitor.

“Cry for help.”

“Well,” Rose said a moment later. “What are we waiting for?”

He grinned widely and set the TARDIS into motion. When the ship jolted to a whining, screeching halt, he looked up.

“This’ll be it, then. Want the honors of going first?”

Rose ran down the ramp without answering and pushed through the doors. He quickly followed behind to make sure she didn’t get attacked (or worse) and saw her looking around.

“Oh, it’s beautiful.”

“Mangas Pristi. It is. Let’s go look for trouble, shall we?”

“Yes, please.”

She eagerly wrapped her arm around his and they set off towards the chimney-topped buildings in the distance. Halfway there, the Doctor saw a crowd running towards him.

“Ooh. Think we found it. What do you think it is? Angry mob or fleeing townspeople?”

“Jenny,” Rose said in surprise and pointed. The Doctor followed her finger and saw Jenny running ahead of the crowd. “Oh, but what’s she done?”

He sighed. Leave it to his daughter to incite a mob. They were getting closer, nearly close enough for him to reach out for her.

“Right, then. Shall we?”

Rose nodded and, when Jenny was within reach, they both snatched up one of her hands and sprinted for the TARDIS.

“Dad,” Jenny gasped, panting for breath. “It really is you! I thought I was imagining stuff!”

“You weren’t. Now run faster!”

Once through the TARDIS doors, Jenny slumped against the wall to catch her breath. His own breathing automatically levelled and Rose was soon breathing normally, as well. The Doctor spun to see Jenny and saw her looking to the door.

“ _What_ did you do?”

“Accidentally set the temple on fire. Who is she?”

“In the future, she’ll be my wife and the mother of at least nine children. Your siblings, I should say.” He glanced between Rose and Jenny. “You all visited this morning.”

“Nine? You’ll have nine other children with her?” Jenny laughed in disbelief. “What, you? Really?”

“Well, you’ll count yourself as one of hers one day, but yeah. She was giving birth to number eight in her time. No, the children’s time. Makes more sense.” Rose nodded and he copied her nod. “Right. Oh, damn. Rose, I’m nearly going to regenerate tomorrow. Better prepare ourselves for that.”

“How do you know that?” Jenny asked incredulously. The Doctor looked at her in surprise.

“How do you know about regeneration?”

“I’ve had to research as I go. How do you know you’re going to nearly regenerate?”

“You told us it’d happen.”

“Future you,” Rose added helpfully.

“Right. Course. Future me. This a TARDIS, then? Can travel in space, time, and all that?”

“And your new home if I have anything to say about it.”

“Cool.” It was interesting and slightly curious that Jenny finally relaxed and stopped glancing at the door at this point. Hmm. “So nine brothers and sisters, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Married yet?”

“Not yet.”

“Huh. Alright.”

“Um.” Rose briefly glanced at him and then focused on Jenny once more. “Do you know how old you are?”

The Doctor chuckled and Rose blushed. Jenny looked between them suspiciously.

“I… don’t actually know. I was born fully grown.”

“In a machine. Your father told me.”

“Yeah. Right.”

Rose nodded and the Doctor watched her and Jenny exchange a few glances when the other wasn’t looking. He decided to stay quiet, to let them work through whatever was going on with them.

“Have you eaten?” Rose abruptly asked; Jenny frowned. “I could make us something. We’re gonna be sharing your dad – er, obviously in different ways – and I’d like us to get to know each other. We could eat, talk.”

“No.” Rose started to nod, but then Jenny said, “I haven’t eaten. Could, though.”

“Oh,” Rose said in relief. “Okay. What do you like? When I was married to – um, should I tell her about that?”

“Go ahead. She’ll find out one day, anyway. I’ll just, uh, be – “

“You could join us. I mean, both Jenny and I just got you back.”

“And I got both of you back.”

“Back?” Jenny asked.

“She was traveling with me before you… happened. I’d lost her.”

“How? Where?”

“Different universe,” Rose said when he stayed silent. “Twice.”

Jenny looked at him, awed. “You went to another universe?”

“No. Well, yes, but…” He sighed and led them down the hall. “You see, that’s why you, your brothers, and your sisters decided to pay us a visit. We had to rescue her. One day, you’ll actually see what I mean.”

“So what happened with you?” Jenny asked Rose. “Tell me about it?”

“The first time I was lost,” Rose began, “my father in the alternate universe saved me from being sucked into the void. My mum, my brother, and I all lived with him. The second time, your father left me there with a human- well, he called himself a metacrisis. He was sort of like your dad, looked just like him, but he was human. He always got so touchy when he talked about it.”

“Imagine waking up one day and you’ve transformed into something you never were.”

“Yeah. Must be hard to imagine. It’s not like the same didn’t happen to me.”

“Hold up. What?” Jenny stopped their progress to the galley. “What do you mean the same happened to you?”

“I was born a human.”

“And now she’s not quite… human. She’s not aging. Or at least she still hadn’t by the time your – by the time Rose was giving birth to your eighth sibling.”

“I also apparently have the power to stop your dad’s regenerations. Not quite sure I believe that, but I’m really hoping it’s true considering what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

“Stop… his… regenerations? I am so confused.”

“Sweetie, I don’t even understand and you were the one explaining it to us this morning.”

That actually got a chuckle from his daughter and the Doctor couldn’t quite contain a happy smile in turn.

“Well, if I couldn’t explain it right, suppose I shouldn’t hold it against you that you can’t, either.”

“So gracious, you are.”

“Ah, let’s make a detour,” the Doctor said. “The med bay, Rose.”

“But I don’t need-”

“I haven’t run the tests I wanted to on you and I’d like to know how old my daughter is.”

“Can we un-invite him from dinner?” Jenny joked.

Rose snickered and the Doctor frowned. No. No, that wasn’t allowed. They wouldn’t dare team up on him, would they? Perhaps bonding is the last thing they need. Wait. No, future Jenny had clearly adored Rose, had considered Rose to be her mum, regardless of her absence during Jenny’s “birth.” He couldn’t do that to them.

He sighed. Fine. He’d suffer in silence.

“Annoying as your dad is, I haven’t seen him in ten years and I’ve missed him very much. Probably see me trying to climb up his back when he inevitably tries to flee from me.”

Well. Maybe he wouldn’t have to suffer at all.

“Why would he do that?”

“I can be very annoying sometimes, especially when I haven’t seen someone I care about in a very long time, and I wouldn’t blame him one bit if he tried to get some peace. One time when he was in his last body, he got separated from me for twenty-eight years. Well, for him. For me, it wasn’t that long, but it was still long enough that he actually ran away from me! I eventually found him hiding in a closet and had to promise I’d stop following him around, because he wasn’t gonna come out until I did.”

He laughed. He’d nearly pushed that incident from his mind. She hadn’t truly been annoying him all that much. He’d just needed a nap and she wouldn’t stop talking. The Doctor gave her a fond look.

“Hmm.” Jenny studied him and he wondered what she was looking for. “No. I bet he’ll be thrilled. Probably try to snog ya when I’m not looking. Maybe more.” She winked and he felt sick to his stomach. She chortled. “Oh, that’s gonna be so much fun.”

Well, damn.

“An adult, you were, and he was still acting like this. It’s like he doesn’t know you’ll grow up or something.”

“Rose,” he complained. “You promised.”

“Couldn’t resist. Sorry.”

He harrumphed. “Med bay. Now.”

Rose rolled her eyes, which amused him, and headed down another corridor to the med bay. Jenny was right on her heels and hurried to catch up. He grinned a little and followed the two.

“So you lived in a different universe and you somehow became ‘not quite human,’ as Dad put it?”

“Yeah.”

“How did that happen? The human thing, I mean.”

“I was traveling with your dad, we landed in a lot of trouble, he sent me home, and I ended up taking in the whole of the time vortex –”

“What?” Jenny yelled. “But that’s – How did you live?”

“Your dad. Gave his life for mine.”

“But _she_ risked her measly human life for one of mine.”

“Worth it,” Rose called back. “Thing is, he didn’t get it all out, I guess. Then, he lost a hand the first day he looked like the guy behind us. That hand later became the human version of himself. With a little bit of his friend, Donna, too.” From his position behind them, he could only just see the sad look on Jenny’s face. “I know. Not the same, but close enough. We were happy. When he died, his life energy hit me and I thought I was hallucinating, because no one else saw it.”

“And those two things together…?”

“Yes. Least you said so. I haven’t physically aged in ten years so guess it’s true.”

“That… is so awesome.”

“I’m gonna guess teens,” Rose said and the Doctor chuckled. “Maybe early twenties if she’s recently gone to somewhat modern Earth.”

“Guilty.” Jenny spent a long moment staring at Rose, only briefly glancing ahead before looking back, and then looked at him. “So when’s the wedding?”

“Did you want to go?”

“Well, my only dad’s getting married to this… um, you. Kind of want to see it, yeah. Probably be his only one. Can’t miss it, I think.”

“I’ve been married before.”

He was ignored.

“Oh. He hasn’t even asked me yet so I don’t know.”

“I was planning to earlier once the children left,” he again spoke, “but Jenny’s cry for help interrupted me.”

Naturally _that_ was heard. Jenny made a face at him.

“Don’t blame me.”

“This is what we have to look forward to, Rose. They’ll constantly be interrupting us.”

“I know, but remember what it was like being with all of them?”

“I do.”

He smiled at Rose, though her back was still turned.

“I can’t speak for him, but I can hardly wait. You were all so… Let’s see. There was Betty and Louisa. Then came Harry, who wants to become exactly like your dad. Then there were the twins, Sarah and Gilbert-”

“Ew, no,” Jenny interrupted. “Gibby. Gilbert sounds so old.”

“So that’s where the nickname came from,” the Doctor murmured to himself. “I’d wondered.”

“Alright,” Rose agreed. “Gibby. Charlie came next and Abigail was after him. She was still a baby.”

“But didn’t you guys say you were having another when we dropped in?”

“Yes.”

“First of all, Dad, way to put her uterus through all that. It barely got a break, poor thing, especially with Abby and the next baby.”

The Doctor blanched. “Stop talking about reproduction.”

“Second of all, that’s only nine. You miscounted.”

“No, he didn’t. Your future siblings overheard your father begging for another child before I’d even given birth.”

“Certainly changed since I came along,” Jenny remarked. “Let Donna name me, didn’t really want anything to do with me, claimed I wasn’t his daughter –” Rose gasped. “- tried to leave me with the bad guys-” Here, Rose actually twisted around to glare at him. He agreed he might have deserved that. “But then he heard my hearts.”

Rose turned back to Jenny and frowned. “What happened?”

“I proved myself.”

“She snogged the guard,” he said sourly, “and freed us.”

“It was one kiss, Dad. Besides, I meant by not killing General Cobb and the other guys.”

“Right.”

Rose snickered. “What happened next?”

“He shot me.”

“What?” Rose asked, stumbling. “Who shot whom?”

“General Cobb tried shooting Dad. I couldn’t let that happen.”

“She died. Didn’t regenerate.”

“Healed myself,” she told Rose. He listened carefully. “Thought I was done for, but I wasn’t. Later learned about regeneration and wondered why I didn’t change. I don’t know. Something happened. I woke up and ran away to do what Dad does.”

“Oh, my gosh.”

“It was a paradox,” the Doctor mused. “Jenny was the reason we even went to that planet in the first place, but our going created her. On and on.” He chuckled. “It makes sense my first… well, my most recent first child would be “born” during such an occurrence.”

“You had others?” Jenny asked.

“Yes. They’re gone now, as I told you.”

“Doctor.” Rose stopped walking and he soon found himself beside her. “Do you think maybe she’s part of that destiny thing she was talking about earlier?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m just thinking, mind. If you’d never gone to that planet, Jenny never would have been born and without her, you never would have known how to get me back so we could have the children so they could one day come back to help you get me. You never would have known how to save me or known what is going on with me, for that matter, because she’d never have explained it to you. Don’t you see?”

“Without her, it would have been impossible. All of it.”

“Without her,” Rose continued thoughtfully, “the universe would have ended somehow, because none of that would have ever happened. We’d still have been separated. I mean, that’s what Jenny said would’ve happened, anyway.”

Firstly, his Rose had grown wise. Secondly, she had a point. Thirdly, his daughter had been the key the entire time; the moment he’d had a tissue sample stolen, events had been set into motion. He looked to Jenny and saw her staring at Rose in surprise and – dare he think it? – adoration.

“Do you really think that?”

“Yes, I do, Jenny. Your dad might think it’s silly, but it makes perfect sense to me. You saved the entire universe and you didn’t even know it.”

Rose smiled and the Doctor swore he saw hearts in Jenny’s eyes. The woman was winning his daughter over without really trying and she didn’t even seem to be aware of it.

“Just my birth?”

“Yes. Wasn’t anything you did. You were just… born and it led to this point. The universe will continue on and I’ll be there to save your father every time he tries to die on us.” Rose shrugged. “Maybe we were always meant to be joined up like this. You as the Doctor’s daughter, me as his wife, him as…” She looked at him and he smiled warmly. “As a troublemaking alien with too much curiosity.”

“Oi!”

Jenny giggled.

“Without one, the other two couldn’t be together.”

“That’s true,” the Doctor said, deciding he should be a part of this conversation. “Without you, well, obviously you know what would happen. Without me, you never would have been born and Rose would still be living in London with her mum and would have no brother.”

“Or you,” Rose added quietly. Jenny grinned at her.

“And without Rose, I would still be in a miserable heap in the control room and you’d likely be strung up on a pole by nightfall.”

“And burned.”

Rose shivered. “Unacceptable.”

“Agreed.”

“Basically, each of us are puzzle pieces and if a piece was lost, it was bye, bye, big picture or, well, universe.”

“Yes.”

“Huh. I think Rose had a point.” Jenny had apparently already decided who her favorite parent was. Clearly, it was the one who first claimed the survival of the universe was only ensured by her birth. Well played, Rose. He grinned happily. “I mean, I definitely don’t know if I’ll even like her –” That was a lie and he knew it. “-but she is pretty smart. Don’t think I’ll hate her.”

Rose beamed. “I’m glad, Jenny.”

It was then he realized they’d been walking a long time before they’d stopped. He glanced back the way they’d come and then looked down the rest of the corridor.

“Have you been lengthening corridors again?” he asked the TARDIS. “Think we needed a bit of a walk, huh?”

“Maybe she wanted us to have that conversation first. Pointless tests aren’t as important.”

“I would like to know exactly what is going on with you.”

“Jenny already said the TARDIS wouldn’t tell you anything.”

“Fine,” he groused. “I’ll only do two, then. Check your health and your…” He looked down at her belly for the briefest of seconds and hoped she got “reproductive health” out of that instead of anything else. “But I am testing for Jenny’s age. We can always postpone your tests until later if you’d like.”

“Please. I’m starving and I know they’ll take forever. Besides, it’s my first day back. Wait a day or two before you get curious and try testing me for everything that pops into your head.”

“That was _once_ ,” he groaned, “and I wondered if humans could smell tears as well as I could.”

“…tears?” Jenny asked and then giggled. “Weird, Dad.”

“He knows it. Jenny’s age and then food, Doctor.”

“Very well. Wouldn’t you be shocked if she was registering as six?”

“Um, yes.”

“Not her mental age, Rose. I meant the body. There were seven years between her and Beatrice.”

“Oh.” Her eyes belatedly widened and she looked at him. “Yes, I would.”

“I rather hope to have a few years to enjoy my-” Don’t say wife! Jenny was standing right there! “-to enjoy my little family before we expand.”

“Doesn’t matter what you want. Whatever’s meant to happen will happen whether we’re ready or not.”

“True. All the same...”

“Not that I’m a part of this conversation or anything,” Jenny commented, “but it’d be cool having a little person around. Give me someone to talk to when you’re off-”

“Jenny,” the Doctor interrupted and she laughed. “Stop it right now.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Dad. Sorry.”

“Rose, make her stop.”

“What? Like she’ll listen to me.” Rose rolled her eyes and, seeing Jenny staring at Rose expectantly, the Doctor was hard pressed not to do the same. “She’s your daughter. She won’t become attached to me or anything until further down the road.”

If by further down the road, she’d really meant almost immediately, then yes, she was right. The Doctor snorted.

“Right,” he drawled and Jenny looked at him. “The med bay is the red door, Jenny.”

“Oh, right. My age.”

Rose led the way, Jenny never more than half a step behind, and the Doctor gave them amused grins when they weren’t looking. How cute. Jenny was talking a mile a minute, asking all sorts of things of Rose and wondering about their future onboard. Rose really was doing her best to answer everything. He’d give her that.

“Jenny, that’s enough. Leave the poor woman alone.”

“We’ll talk more when we get to the galley,” Rose promised. “Your dad will probably want to talk, too, while he does our tests.”

“Okay,” Jenny agreed easily. “So what do I have to do?”

“I’m going to start Rose’s tests first since they will take the longest.”

“No,” Rose complained. “You made it seem like they’d be fast ones.”

“I didn’t necessarily say they wouldn’t be. I just said they’d take longer than hers.”

“So help me, Doctor, if you’re thinking about testing me for that other stuff, I’ll hurt you. No, I’ll eat you. I’m really hungry.”

Shaking away the images her words had conjured, the Doctor looked at her in concern.

“Have you not been eating?”

“Not today. I’d been dealing with a guest that owed me money for extensive damages in their room.” The Doctor gave her a questioning look. “Raxacoricofallapatoranian. Just slightly different, I know. Couldn’t get through the door to start so he dismantled that and then nearly fell out the window trying to remove the carpeting. Never told me why he was doing it.”

“Oh, those Raxacoricofallapatoranians.”

“I know. Always causing trouble. Reminds me of someone...”

They both looked at Jenny, who giggled.

“I take after my dad.”

Rose laughed.

“You two are not allowed to gang up on me. Do you hear me?”

Jenny’s grin intensified. “I’m really gonna like it here.”

Well, then. He supposed he couldn’t blame her for a bit of teasing every now and then. He was, after all, a terrible father when she was first born.

“Come here, Rose,” he said, letting it go. “I’ll take some blood, do some scans, and let the TARDIS work through it while I do Jenny’s test.”

“Why do I feel like I won’t be eating for hours?” She frowned. “Do you actually have anything onboard?”

“Er.” He thought about that but wasn’t sure. “I don’t know the last time I went shopping.”

“Have _you_ been eating?”

“I think so.”

“Actual food?” she asked, brow arched. “Not just jam or bananas when your tummy hurts.”

“I think so,” he repeated. “Don’t think today, though. Was, er, busy. We have macaroni cheese and sausage, though. I do know that much.”

“Good enough for – ow – for me.”

The Doctor watched Rose’s blood start to drain into a glass vial and then looked up.

“We could go out... Practice being a family and all that.”

Rose glanced at Jenny, who was looking from him to her. She nodded.

“Good idea. You need the practice, I think.”

“Bit rusty, yeah.” The Doctor bandaged Rose’s arm, collected the two vials of blood, and deposited them in the machine the TARDIS had helpfully put out for him. “Let her work through that while I test Jenny.”

He pressed a button and Jenny came closer.

“My turn?”

“Yes. Um, you can sit next to Rose. Probably be easiest that way.”

“Sure.” Jenny hopped up onto the examining table and grinned at Rose. “So you’re gonna marry my dad one day and give me a bunch of kid brothers and sisters.”

“Looks like it.”

“Cool. Have any kids back in your universe?”

“No.” Rose looked down and frowned. “Never got the chance. Corin… slipped into a coma and… well, anyways, that was ‘bout a week after we decided I’d stop taking the pill.”

They’d been _this_ _close_ to having children together. The Doctor’s hearts hurt for her.

“Sorry,” Jenny mumbled. “That sucks.”

“Wasn’t meant to be,” Rose said with a smile. “Everything happens for a reason, right?”

“Yeah, but-” Jenny nodded. “Yeah, it does. Guessin’ it’d be harder to leave your old universe if you had a kid who had friends and whatnot over there.”

“It wouldn’t have been easy.”

“And they wouldn’t have been like Dad; would have been human and whatever you are. Think they maybe wouldn’t have had a long life?”

“I’m not sure. I hadn’t thought about it.”

“Oh. I was just curious. I’m always curious about stuff.”

“Just like your dad.”

Jenny grinned widely. “That’s good. You know, he taught me a lot in the _one day_ I knew him.”

Guilt pricked at him. One day. He’d sacrificed one day for his own daughter and hadn’t thought much of her after leaving her behind. He was going to be a terrible father.

“Have you been looking for him?”

“Not really,” she admitted shamefully, peeking at him. “He… didn’t seem like he needed a kid hanging around.”

“You’re not some kid. You’re his daughter and, actually, an adult by the looks of it.”

Jenny shrugged. “Doesn’t matter now. You found me.”

“Your dad was there, too.”

“But you saw her first,” the Doctor voiced, uploading her blood sample, as well. “I just told her to run.”

“Doctor, whatever you’re thinking, just don’t.” He frowned at her and Rose shook her head. “I can tell you’re getting in a mood. Probably feeling guilty or something, aren’t you?”

“Jenny, I need a strand of your hair. Please.”

She reached up to her head, yanked a single strand of hair, and looked closely.

“By the root.”

“Thank you.”

“How are you gonna tell her age from a hair?”

“I’m not. I’m checking for illnesses, growth stunts or spurts, and… unmentionable substances.”

“Drugs?” Rose asked. “You think she’s been doing drugs?”

“I’m being safe. If she has an addiction, I’d like to know up front.” He saw Jenny roll her eyes. “Don’t do that. I’m looking out for your physical and mental well-being. Addictions aren’t easy to overcome. If I know you’re dealing with something, I can help. I just want to know everything about you, good and bad, up front. I’m trying to be a good dad.”

Rose hooked her legs around his and pulled him closer so she could hug him. He stood unmoving between her thighs a moment and then snapped out of it. Move, man! This was Rose Tyler and she was trying to hug him.

“You are a good dad,” she murmured into his jacket. “You don’t have to prove it to anyone.”

“…I do to her.”

“Um, I know you’re a good dad. You sucked at first, but you proved yourself, too.”

He smiled against Rose’s hair.

“Is that so?”

“Duh. You could have just asked, you know. Only thing I’ve ever done is drink.” She paused and he cringed. “A lot, to be honest.”

He squeezed Rose tighter so he could try to think about something other than his daughter drinking to excess (and what might have happened… and with whom… while she’d been doing such). Rose smothered a giggle using his chest and he frowned deeply.

“This isn’t funny, Rose.”

“It is a little. She’s experimenting, but she’s been safe about it.”

“I see we’re going to approach parenting in radically different ways. This could be a disaster.”

“You just have to remember what it’s like to have a teenager in the house. At least she’s telling you what she’s done. I wouldn’t have if Mum asked me.”

“Please pretend you didn’t hear that, Jenny.”

“Oh, stop.” Rose leaned back, but the Doctor didn’t let her escape his arms. “I want you to know you can always come to your dad to talk about anything, Jenny. Never be afraid to just ‘cause you think he might get mad. Chances are he’ll have a right to get angry if you’re afraid he might get that way. But remember he’s still your dad no matter how angry he might get.”

The Doctor kissed her forehead. He couldn’t have said it better himself (likely wouldn’t have even thought to).

“Could I maybe come to you if I’m not comfortable talking to him about something? Lot of stuff a girl doesn’t want to tell her dad... you know.”

“Yes, of course you can, Jenny.” So basically, Jenny would never ever be coming to him to discuss her problems or to ask for advice. Ever. “I may not be your mum, but from what I saw when your future self was here, we do grow to be close friends and you will come to think of me as a parental figure of sorts. I’d like that.”

_Friends_? Parental figure _of sorts_? The Doctor snorted. His daughter from the future had treated Rose like any other girl would treat _her mother_ , not as a ‘parental figure of sorts.’

“And I can talk to you about anything?” Jenny checked. “No matter what it is, it won’t be weird?”

Rose smiled, nodded, and Jenny glanced at him with a frown on her lovely face.

“She was telling the truth. You do develop a close mother-daughter bond with her. I saw that myself. I’m sure you’ll talk about all sorts of things in the future.” Jenny kept frowning and he copied the expression. “What?” Jenny’s frown deepened. “What is it?”

“Ah, Doctor?” He looked at Rose and she arched her eyebrows pointedly. What was he missing? Rose snorted. “Right now seems to be one of those times she’d like to discuss something with someone that’s... not her father.”

“What?” He looked at Jenny and then chuckled. “Oh, right. Of course. I’ll... I’ll be in the hall.”

Rose glanced at Jenny, who nodded. He hesitantly left the room and swore he stood outside the med bay for hours before the door opened. Rose led Jenny into the corridor and started back towards the control room.

“I think your tests are ready,” Rose told him. “When you’re done, we need to go somewhere.”

“Where?”

“I’ll explain when you get done.”

Jenny looked at her cautiously and Rose smiled. Something big had been discussed when he’d been out of the room. That much was obvious. Feeling anxious, the Doctor hurriedly checked the results of his tests.

Rose was perfectly healthy, there were no red flags in any of the blood tests he’d run, and, according to the Alkatrasian tests he’d put some of her blood through, she was also quite fertile. He would, of course, have to physically check her over at some point in the future, but it seemed she would be ready to go whenever the time came for them to conceive Betty.

The Baranian test he’d done with Jenny’s blood claimed she was somewhere between four years, nine months and five years of age. If there were seven years between Jenny and Betty, Rose would be going into labor in about two years, give or take a few months for a prolonged pregnancy or early delivery. If he figured in the time of the pregnancy itself, which would normally take about nine or ten months (using the length of a human pregnancy as a base number since Rose was, in essence, still somewhat human), that put conception at about one year and three months or so in the future.

The Doctor grinned and tapped out of the results window. It was a shame he didn’t have an exact age for either Jenny or Betty, because he would have liked to be more exact with his figures, but that was a good enough timeline for him. A little over one year until she conceived. He could handle that. Probably.

When he got to the control room and Rose hesitantly explained what she and Jenny had been discussing, his good mood vaporized.

“You had a fling with a thirtieth century human,” he said in horror, “he gave you a dog _in return_ , and you want me to go save the mutt from Mangas Pristi?”

“It’s a puppy,” Jenny murmured in embarrassment. “His name is Toby... and there’s nothing wrong with humans. Rose is human. Um, was?”

The Doctor looked at Rose and she gave him a sympathetic smile.

“I did tell you not to keep pressing for an answer about how she came to have a dog, Doctor.”

“She had sex!”

“They were in love,” Rose said, her expression hardening a bit. “Plus, Doctor, she’s an adult. Adults sometimes do adult things.”

“But she’s my daughter. She’s not supposed to be…”

“Doctor.”

Rose gave him a warning look – one that dared him to keep going, because he might never get to do those same adult things with her if he didn’t stop – and he sagged onto the jump seat.

“Rose.”

She stared at him a moment longer and then grabbed his hand. Her sweet smile made the sick feeling in his tummy go away.

“I know you don’t like it, but she is an adult and she fell in love. It wasn’t just a fling as you put it and Toby has been her puppy – her _companion_ – for months now. She just wants him back and I’m sure you can understand that. Will you please go back to Mangas Pristi so we can rescue him from her ship?”

The Doctor glanced away. Jenny was giving him a pleading look; her bottom lip jutted out in a way that tugged at his hearts. When he met her eyes once more, Rose squeezed his hand.

“He’ll continue to be your responsibility, Jenny,” he finally said, giving up. “I won’t feed, walk, or bathe him.”

In the next moment, Jenny was tightly hugging him about the neck and jumping around excitedly, thanking him over and over again. He grabbed her arm with his free hand, mostly to keep her from strangling him in her excitement and caught the proud look Rose aimed his way. He barely had time to enjoy it before Jenny released his neck and started pressing happy kisses all over his face.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, Dad, thank you!” Forehead, cheek, cheek, nose. “Thank you, thank-”

“Jenny,” Rose laughed. “You’ll smother him.”

“Oops.” Jenny pulled away and grinned. “Thanks, Dad! I’m gonna go pick out a room. Oh, tell me when we get there!”

And then she was gone. Still leaning back in the sprawl he’d been forced into, he looked at Rose in amazement.

“Surely saying I’d save the dog didn’t deserve all that.”

“She was worried you’d tell her she couldn’t have Toby onboard.”

He gave her a look. “Didn’t even occur to me. Why would she think that?”

“I honestly don’t know. I told her you wouldn’t be that mean.”

“I should think not. Not to my own daughter.” Rose nodded and he hummed. “Think she’ll be gone for a while?”

“Probably. I was when I picked out my room. There were so many to choose from. You should remember. You followed me around for some of it.”

“In that case…” He sat up, pulled Rose closer, and caressed her cheek. “There’s something I really want to do and I don’t think I’ll ever be more grateful than I am right this second for the privacy.”

Rose grinned and pressed her lips to his before he could actually lean towards her. He sighed happily, wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug, and tried not to think of the time he’d seen a blue suited version of himself holding Rose in much the same way. Not right now, at least.

Moaning, Rose somehow climbed onto the jump seat (and him) without breaking their kiss and he happily moved his hands to her bum to keep her from falling off. He might have had an ulterior motive grabbing her like that, of course, but any internal scolding he could have given himself flew right out the metaphorical window when she rocked forward over his hardening length and rubbed her breasts against his chest.

After several glorious minutes, time in which he grew fully hard and guided each of her movements over his lap, Rose moved her hands beneath his jacket and helped him wiggle out of it. He in turn slipped his hands beneath her denims and knickers, leaned up to nip at her neck, and earned another moan when he ground himself into her. She swiveled her hips, the unbelievable heat coming from her body feeling incredible on his aching length and then tilted her head to give him better access to her neck.

“Want you so badly,” she breathed. “Can we…?”

Good God, yes. His head fell back against the jump seat.

“Been a while,” he warned. “This might not be a marathon. A sprint maybe.”

“Don’t care.”

“At least let me…” Rose slid off his lap, shucked her denims and knickers in an impressively short amount of time, and undid his trousers. “Rose, before that, I want to-”

“I don’t need it. Promise.”

She carefully freed his erect length from his trousers and pants and he lifted his hips so she could slide the material down his legs. As they pooled around his ankles, Rose placed a hand on his thigh and his stomach clenched.

“Are you sure? I promise I can wait long enough to bring you off. I want you to enjoy yourself.”

“I already am,” she replied, grinning, “and yeah, I’m sure.”

He nodded and Rose smiled in relief while placing her knee on the seat beside him. He helped her back up and after bracing his feet against the edge of the console, Rose rocked over him. He groaned, his eyes closing and head falling onto the back of the seat once more and felt her hand wrap around his length.

“If you don’t want me to lose it,” he said, eyes cracking open, “you might want to stop doing that.”

Not that he would’ve gone off, but he was impatient.

“Sorry.”

Rose stopped stroking him, gently squeezed the base of his erection, and guided him to her entrance. He blinked and then felt her wet, hot, too hot body envelop him. It was breathtaking, fantastic, and much too pleasurable and he trembled. Having never been with a human before, he hadn’t known what to expect, but he certainly wouldn’t have expected to feel _this_. He clutched at her hips, trying to hold her still to minimize sensation, but it didn’t really help. Mental blocks and hormone tampering weren’t helping, either. Not this time. Without warning, she reached behind her and tugged at his testicles. The pleasure building in his belly leveled out long enough for him to get a hold of his hormones, to block the input pouring into his brain, and he looked at her in awe.

“What did you just do?”

“What, that? You’ve never done that?”

“No. With one obvious exception, of course, why would I tug at any of my body parts?”

“Well, many reasons, I think, and I’ve seen you pull at your earlobe a lot.”

“Rose.”

“You looked like you were having trouble hanging on. I had to do the same thing the first few times me and… back then. You know.”

“My metacrisis, though being human himself, had trouble adjusting to your body temperature, as well?”

“For him, I don’t think it was so much the temperature, but that he hadn’t had sex… well, at all in that body.”

“And tugging at his testicles prevented early ejaculation?”

“Yeah.”

“How did you know it would work?”

“It’s a human thing.”

He blinked at her for a moment. He hadn’t been aware his body would react so similarly to that of a human male.

“Alright.”

She smiled at him. “Can I move now or do you need more time?”

“No, I’m ready. I mean, yes, you can move.”

Rose started rocking her hips back and forth, which felt incredible, and guided his hand between her legs.

“Ever been with a human?”

“No, but I do know the human body quite well. You might call me a doctor.” Grinning at her chuckle, he freed his hand from her grasp and pressed his thumb against her. “The clitoris,” he said and gently began to rub her. “Rather, the head, the glans, of the clitoris. Eight-thousand nerve endings here. ‘S double the amount in a human male’s penis… You lucky ladies.”

Head thrown back, Rose moaned and jerked her hips forward, taking in all his length and pressing closer to his hand. He quite liked the wanton image she presented and his breath caught in response. Regulating his breathing, he kept steady pressure on her clitoris as he massaged the little nub, an action of which she approved. Quite loudly.

Excluding earlier when finally being within Rose’s body had actually been the cause of his near release, he’d had impressive staying power his entire life, even when he’d been too close to release when he finally entered his partner. He knew when to tamp down on his hormones in order to stave off his orgasm and could put up a mental block in his brain when the sensory information being collected became too much for him to bear. An orgasm, after all, mainly happened in the brain and was felt throughout the rest of the body. Rather delightful process, really, and being a creature who was perfectly in tune with his brain, he’d never before had trouble delaying his own satisfaction until his partner had found her own. It had always been boringly easy to manipulate his own mind into holding off until _he_ wanted to release.

However, Rose tore through all his mental defenses like they were nothing. He could feel her, smell her, hear her. He couldn’t block out the sensory information that continued pouring into his mind, no matter how hard he tried, and his hormones refused to be ignored any longer. What was it about _her_ that was making him so helpless now?

He felt his body temperature rising. His hearts thrummed in his chest and his breathing quickened. Sweat was pooling at his lower back and beading up on his chest, his brow, everywhere. His muscles tensed, readying him for orgasm, and Rose nodded. Her breath was coming in quick pants and he was mesmerized by her heaving breasts, her pert nipples, the flush sweeping across her collarbone.

“You’re close. ‘S good. Faster.”

Her reaction was immediate when he replaced his thumb with his index and middle fingers and quickly rubbed her clitoris up and down instead of going in circles like before. Her hips jerked out of rhythm, her eyes clenched shut, and then, after several more seconds, she was crying out. Head bowed and lips parted, Rose convulsed over and around him, her vaginal walls fluttering around his length and tearing a groan from deep within his belly. Following that beautiful, primal, indescribably spectacular performance, Rose lazily opened her eyes and began rocking atop him once more.

He needed to taste her. As her movements sped up and his orgasm grew imminent, he clumsily pulled her closer and slipped his tongue between her parted lips. Whatever finesse he might once have possessed during previous sexual encounters had long since disappeared by this point. Obviously. Rose’s tongue wound around his and he felt like a teenager again. He ground into her desperately, holding her down by the hips, and felt his pelvic muscles begin to contract. Rose’s beautiful face was the last thing he saw before his eyes slipped closed.

He groaned in pleasure and felt himself being pulled into oblivion. Only by sheer determination was he able to remain conscious enough to feel his orgasm raging through him and, five seconds after the start of it, he felt himself ejaculating.

He was dying. He wasn’t going to survive. This was going to kill him. He clung to Rose, unable to catch his breath, and hoped his old hearts could hold out until he was done.

Realistically, he knew the entirety of his orgasm would’ve lasted about twenty seconds, perhaps just a bit longer. However, to his sex-addled mind, it felt like hours passed before the pleasure completely faded and he was able to truly focus on Rose again.

“My god,” he breathed. “That was terrifying.”

Rose frowned. “What?”

“I honestly thought I was going to die.”

“Sorry,” she replied, snickering. “Didn’t know I was that good.”

He closed his eyes and slumped against the seat.

“I’m so tired now, Rose. I need a nap before we rescue the pup.”

“Think I’ll join you. It’s been a long day for me.” She gingerly slid off his lap, which he did not like, and he heard rustling fabric. “You might wanna get up. If you fall asleep in here, one, your bare bum’ll fall off that chair and two, Jenny might come back and see you.”

His eyes popped open in horror. Falling he could’ve dealt with, but Jenny seeing his naked arse (and other bits)? He couldn’t even imagine something that horrendous happening.

“I’m up,” he said, standing and yanking up his trousers. “I never would’ve moved if you hadn’t pointed out the likelihood of Jenny returning.”

“I know.”

He piled his jacket on the jump seat and led Rose to his bedroom.

“Should we tell Jenny we’re taking a nap?”

“She’s probably still out there looking for the right bedroom so just leave the door open. If she passes by and remembers she needs one of us, she’ll see it’s okay to come in.”

“Brilliant as always. I, uh, figured out how long we have until, um, Betty.” Rose’s attention snapped to him and he nervously tugged at his earlobe. Oh, he did do that ear tugging thing. Huh. “I obviously would’ve liked to be more precise, but we’ll have a nice idea when to expect…”

“And?”

He scratched his cheek. “Roundabouts one year and three months before you conceive, two years before birth. Maybe more, maybe less.”

“So…” Rose looked him over as they entered his bedroom. “Just two years to prepare?”

“Yep.”

“Which means we’ll need to get married and prepare the nursery, buy baby stuff, pick out cute little outfits, and other stuff like that.”

“Uh huh.”

“Okay.” She smiled. “I want the right side of the bed.”

“Which presents a problem, since I sleep in the _middle_ of the bed,” he said teasingly. “What are we to do?”

“Doesn’t seem like much of a problem to me. Either hold me or deal with me touching you.”

He grinned. “That easy for you, huh?”

“Oh, yeah. I’ll show you. Shirt and shoes off, Doctor.” Her brassiere went onto his desk, her shoes were kicked off to ‘her side’ of the bed, and her earrings were placed on the bedside table beside her. Having obeyed her command, he pointedly waited for instruction and she snorted at him. “Lie down, sweetie.”

“Well, I didn’t wanna do something of which you’d disapprove.”

He was sure his smirk was visible, but she didn’t say anything about it. She merely stretched out on her side, her back to the center of the bed, and yawned. He crawled onto the bed and she twisted to see him after several seconds of his not moving.

“You’re supposed to be holding me.”

“Perhaps I was trying to figure out if I instead wished to deal with you touching me.”

She snickered. “You’re ridiculous.”

“I know. I was trying to be.” He curled around her back and held her tightly, wanting to know she was there with him even while he was sleeping. “Sleep, Rose.”

He didn’t receive an answer and realized she’d already fallen asleep. A small smile crossed his lips as he closed his eyes and let himself drift off.


	2. Their Growing Family

Poke, poke, poke.

“Dad.”

Dad? His brows furrowed. Who in the universe would call him – Oh, right. Jenny.

Poke, poke, poke.

“Daaad, wake up.”

Had she found a bedroom? Or was it a puppy she was looking for? He grumbled.

Poke, poke, poke.

“Dad?”

Ignoring her...

Poke, poke, poke.

“ _Dad_.”

...didn’t seem to be...

Poke, poke, poke, jab.

“Dad!”

...working. He sighed.

“What do you want, Jenny?” he slurred. “As you can tell, I’m sleeping.”

“Wake up.”

“Surely whatever’s wrong with you isn’t life-threatening.” He buried his nose in Rose’s hair and sniffed deeply. Mmm, coconut. Yum yum yum yum. “Now shh.”

Poke, poke, poke.

“Dad.”

Rose snickered, her voice thick and raspy, and he quietly growled.

“Jenny, I will lock you out if you don’t let me sleep.”

“Wake up.”

“Go away.”

“Daaaaaa-”

“Jenny,” he snapped and opened his eyes. “Stop it.”

“But you said you’d save Toby and then came in here to take a nap.” She arched a brow. “I don’t want to know why that was necessary. I just want my puppy.”

Willpower alone ensured he didn’t blush. He did, however, let her see how sickened he felt. Couldn’t hide that, after all.

“ _Stop_ it.”

“Then wake up.” Rose snorted and he sighed again. “You can go back to sleep once you save Toby. Please, please, please, plea-”

“Okay,” he interrupted and his eyes fell shut once more. “I’m getting up. We’re gonna save the dog.”

“The puppy,” Jenny corrected. She remained silent for almost a minute and then started bouncing in place. “Dad!”

He opened his eyes. “I’m up! I’m up. Stop… yelling.”

“Daaaad.”

Rose laughed. “Doctor, wake up.”

“I am up, Rose.”

“No, you’re not. I can tell.” She turned in his arms and kissed the corner of his mouth. He tried to follow her mouth when she pulled back, but she put a hand to his chest. “Jenny’s still waiting.”

Jenny. His daughter. She was still in the room. Best check his libido, then. While he was at it, he better get up and save that stupid mutt so he could curl back around his Rose and possibly get away with doing more appealingly naughty things.

“Daaad, come on.”

His eyes popped open - when had he closed them again? - and his arousal drained away. Right. Rose was grinning at him and he kissed her nose before turning to see Jenny, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed behind him.

“I’m up,” he told her. “Now go away.”

“I don’t believe you. I’m not moving until you’re on your feet.”

He glared, but she didn’t move. Huffing and giving Rose an annoyed look, he pushed himself up and crawled out of the bed. When he was standing, Jenny grinned widely, jumped off the bed, kissed his cheek, and then scampered away.

“She doesn’t get that from me.” Rose covered her mouth and laughed. “I’m being serious. I’m nowhere near that annoying.”

“Sure you’re not, Doctor. Of course.”

He sighed. “Are you getting up, too?”

“Do you need help saving a little puppy?”

“Do you know how many times I’ve walked right into trouble while doing something simple like stopping for bananas or quickly nipping out for milk?”

“Very valid point. I’m getting up. We need to take a quick shower first, though.”

***

“Oh, my god, Dad!”

“Doctor, no!”

He looked up from the thing drooling all over his arms just in time to feel the blade of a long knife pierce his abdomen. The furious man in front of him drove the knife in to the hilt with a satisfied smile, viciously twisted it, and his breath escaped from him.

Pain. There was so much pain.

Dropping to his knees, feeling the blade hanging out of his stomach and back, organs punctured, the sharp edge scraping along his spine, he could barely focus as Rose slammed a large rock against the back of his attacker’s head. The man fell in a crumpled heap and then she was walking over his unconscious form. He could hear Jenny screaming, someone was pulling the dog from his arms, but all he could see was Rose’s tear-streaked face.

“This hurts,” he remarked numbly, struggling to hang on. Hot liquid – blood – was bubbling up his throat and dripping from his mouth, staining his already blood-soaked shirt. “Should probably get it out. Would hate to still have it there when I’m done.”

Sobbing, Rose grabbed the handle of the blade and he screamed as she pulled it free of his body. He saw the bloody thing hit the ground and his vision narrowed.

“Doctor,” Rose cried, hands pressing into his belly, “we need to get you back to the TARDIS. Oh, God, there’s so much blood.”

“No time,” he said tightly. “Get back.”

Rose let him go and Jenny yelled something. Just as he felt the regenerative energy building in himself, Rose abruptly straddled his hips and grabbed both of his forearms tightly. He panicked.

“Rose, let go!”

“No,” she yelled back, her hold unshakable. “This happens, remember?”

“What?”

His cells were dying, changing, and then... everything paused, froze... just stopped. Rose glowed, energy transferring from her body to his, and he could feel everything healing. He gaped at her as torn tissue reconnected, ruptured organs became whole once more, and his damaged spine repaired itself. When it was over, she sat back on her heels and gasped quietly.

“It worked.” A radiant smile lit up her entire face. “Doctor, it worked!”

She threw herself at him, knocking him onto his back once more, and kissed him deeply. After a moment, she pulled away and made a face while he twisted and spat the blood out of his mouth. Then she was back on him. He happily, ecstatically snogged her right back. Jenny made a sound of disgust and nudged his leg with her foot.

“Dad. Um, Daaaad?” She huffed. “Hey, you two, put a pause on that! We should probably get out of here before Bad Guy wakes up.”

Oh, yes. Bad Guy, as she called him. Still not out of the woods, then. The Doctor followed Rose off the ground and looked at Jenny.

“Before we leave, you have something to do, young lady, and I think you know what it is.”

Jenny grimaced.

An hour later, his attacker was still out cold, but he wasn’t dead, which he supposed was good (though Rose was of a different opinion). Rather than wait any longer, he patted at his pockets and found a small notepad so he could write a note.

_Hello!_  
Sorry about that pitiful thing you call a temple. My daughter built you another one.   
Sincerely, the guy you stabbed. Yes, I’m alive. Don’t even have a mark. So ha!

_Also, watch yourself and know I’ll be doing the same. Maybe control the murderous urges or I’ll do it for you. Ta!_

He added a smiley face at the bottom and left the note on the man’s chest. Jenny had already disappeared, but Rose had waited for him. He saw that happening a lot in the future. Holding her hand, they both strolled back to the TARDIS and entered.

His mood changed as soon as they were in the vortex and everything finally sunk in.

***

Saving a puppy.

He’d nearly regenerated while saving a puppy. No, _from_ saving a puppy.

He cursed himself for not asking Jenny how long they’d both been napping. He knew it was coming, had been warned by the Jenny in his future, but hadn’t thought saving a damned puppy from an empty ship would be the thing that almost killed him. Rose kept rubbing the healed knife wound in his belly and he did his best not to curse loudly just to relieve his annoyance.

Saving a stupid puppy had almost killed him!

Okay, well, maybe running into the chieftain, who’d seen him rescuing the woman who had earlier burned down their temple, was the real reason he’d almost died. Still. He wanted to blame that mutt.

Jenny had run off to get Toby settled into ‘his’ room, a room filled with grass and sunshine, and he hadn’t seen her since. It was nice to know his daughter cared that much about his well-being. When he said as much to Rose, though, she didn’t seem to be quite as upset as he thought she should be.

“Doctor, you did tell her you’d _nearly_ regenerate. She already knew you survived. She’s the one that reminded _me_.”

“I suppose that is true.”

“I think you’re actually angry about getting stabbed. Are you sure it doesn’t hurt?”

“No, it doesn’t anymore and of course I’m actually angry about that,” he admitted huffily, quietly. “Instead of discussing the matter of his ruined temple like an adult, the arse decides he’s just going to stab someone. I didn’t even see it coming. Didn’t see _him_ coming.”

“To be fair, you couldn’t. Had your hands busy with a squirmy puppy. A really cute puppy, by the way.”

“He slobbered everywhere.”

“Still really cute.”

He harrumphed. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Again, yes, I’m fine, Doctor. Is the energy still there somewhere?” she asked, looking over his chest. “I mean, will that go away?”

“It’s already abated. And you’re sure you’re okay?”

She smiled tightly. “Yes.”

He was worried her smile was one of pain, but he then realized it was actually annoyance. Oh, yes. He’d seen that one many times before now.

“How many times have I asked so far?”

“Sixteen.”

“In five minutes. I can see why you’re getting annoyed.”

Her smile gentled. “You’re worried about me, I know, but Jenny told you I’d be fine. It’s what I’m meant to do.”

“Doesn’t mean I wasn’t absolutely terrified when you grabbed me and wouldn’t let go, Rose. For a brief moment, I saw my regeneration energy killing you and…”

“I’m fine, you’re fine, Jenny’s fine, and we now have a four-legged family member on board. It’s been a good day all things considered.”

“He’s not a family member.”

“He’s Jenny’s. He’s your grandpuppy.”

“No, he’s not.”

Rose grinned. “Would you rather her have the puppy or a baby? You know that’s the other way her relationship with Bryonn could have gone.”

He shuddered. “Don’t ever remind me, Rose. I’m going to have nightmares. Wait. You know the sod’s name?”

“You’re not meeting him.”

He slumped and gave her a pouty, grumpy look, but Rose did not seem affected. Not this time.

“Oh, fine,” he sighed. “Though I would have liked to meet the man that took my daughter’s innocence-”

“Least she didn’t also have to worry about a hymen.” He looked at her, horrified she’d even mentioned it, and she shrugged. “I asked. I was curious.”

“Yes, well, had she been cursed with such a human disability, perhaps she would have thought twice before shagging a random man.”

“They were in love,” Rose pointed out. “She waited until she knew she loved him. Much like me.”

“I suppose that is commendable,” he admitted unwillingly. “What happened between them? Where is this Bryonn?”

“He died trying to keep her safe... Reminds me of someone I know.”

He blinked several times and tried to ignore the pointed look Rose was giving him (didn’t work). He didn’t want to like this innocence-stealer, but it was hard not to when Rose pointed out they’d both done the same thing to protect the women they loved.

“Damn it,” he growled.

“You would’ve liked him.”

“No, I wouldn’t have. Was that even true?”

“Yes. He really did die trying to keep her safe. Briefly. Emergency responders brought him back.”

He scowled at her. “Rose, that wasn’t nice. I believed you. Where is he? Why aren’t they together anymore?”

“He wanted to settle down and she couldn’t do it. He wanted kids, she wasn’t ready. He fancied the idea of living in the same place, Jenny wanted to see the rest of the universe. You know, now that I’m talking about it, I think Jenny and Bryonn might actually be you and me from when we first met.”

“That’s not funny.”

She giggled. “You’ve really got this fathering thing down.”

“Yes and your mothering skills need some work,” he replied grumpily. “You’ve been discussing Jenny’s sex life without as much as a twitch.”

“That’s because I know our kids have to grow up sometime and Jenny’s already an adult.” The look she gave him pinned him to the spot. “You have to stop thinking she’s always going to just be your daughter and start remembering she might also be someone’s wife and mother someday if that’s what she ends up wanting.”

“I take it back. Mothering skills are A-okay. You’re simply not the babying sort.” Rose snorted and then smiled at him, which made his hearts happy. “Has Jenny kept in contact with this man?”

“From time to time. When she misses him and wants to hear his voice or Toby gets sick and she needs advice.”

He stared at Rose. “She calls to hear his voice?”

“Yeah.”

When Rose was gone, he’d done the same thing. He couldn’t even remember how many times he’d called her mobile just to hear her say her name over voicemail.

“Damn it,” he repeated. “She loves him.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying.”

“Does he love her?”

“Enough to die for her, yeah. Then there’s the puppy...” He frowned and she shrugged. “He wanted kids, but she wasn’t ready. Think he’d have settled for having a puppy instead if he didn’t love her?”

He let out a heartfelt sigh and sat on the jumpseat.

“Think he’ll wait for her until she’s ready?”

“I honestly couldn’t say. Couldn’t bring myself to ask any more questions.”

“You got more out of her than I did.”

“Maybe she sensed I wouldn’t try to treat her like a baby.”

He chuckled. “I can’t help it. I’m her father.”

“Dad!” Jenny yelled down the hall. “How do I turn off the bidet?”

“We don’t have a bidet,” he answered, frowning and hurrying from the room with Rose in tow. “Why would you think we did?”

“Oh. Um... then I think I need some help.”

Rose laughed as he started jogging down the hall. When they made it to the bathroom Jenny was in, easily found by following all the water running into the corridor, he saw water spurting from the toilet like a geyser. Toby, the annoying pup, was running around in circles and yapping his furry, little head off.

“Toby,” he barked. “Sit.”

The dog immediately parked his hind end on the floor and swished his tail in the water rapidly accumulating from the toilet.

“At least it’s clean,” Jenny remarked, looking ashamed. “I didn’t mean to.”

Heaving a great sigh, he crouched down and shut off the water.

“What even happened?”

“We were playing catch and the ball hit something at the back of the toilet.”

“Please tell me you weren’t playing catch in here.”

“I was in the hall,” Jenny answered, rolling her eyes. “I just got a little carried away with my throw.”

“Clearly. Rose, this isn’t funny.” Honestly, she wasn’t even trying to hide her amusement. “This is our future. Children are going to be attempting to destroy everything in the universe for the next one hundred and twenty years or more. Are you sure we should have more?”

“We’ve only got the one and I didn’t even help with her.”

Jenny grinned to herself. Oh, yep, it’d already started. He wondered how long it would take for her to start calling Rose ‘Mum.’

“Suppose I’ll just have to suck it up, then, and you, Rose, are going to learn how to fix things, too. I won’t be doing it all myself.”

“But you’ve got the sonic,” she wheedled. “Be easier for you.”

He arched a brow. “I’ll make you one. No excuse that way.”

“Plus, I’m gonna be pregnant a lot.”

“You’ll have a decent break between most of the children. Stop trying to come up with more excuses.”

“And, I mean, who’s to say how many children we’ll actually end up having?”

“Rose.”

“That’s a lot of wear and tear on my body. ‘S hard work bringing children into the world.”

He gave her a look and huffed, which seemed to amuse her.

“Fine. I can see you’re going to be absolutely no help.”

She grinned. “Nah. I’ll be too busy minding the children to fix whatever goes wrong.”

“Alright, then. You mind that one while I try to figure out what she’s broken.”

“I didn’t break anything,” Jenny groused.

“Have you ever been to Yellowstone, Jenny?” he asked curiously, wrists resting on his thighs. “It’s back on Earth in the Americas. North, if I recall correctly. No? We-hell, I’ll have to take you sometime so you may see exactly what just happened in here. I assure you, toilets aren’t supposed to do that.”

“Not even bidets?”

“No. If a bidet shot out water at that force...” He gave Jenny a look and she looked horrified. Rose covered her mouth and desperately tried not to laugh. “Exactly. Since the purpose of a bidet is to get clean, not to pleasure oneself, this-” He pointed at the toilet. “-would’ve been very, very wrong.”

Rose’s giggling finally escaped and Jenny blushed, looking mortified. He chuckled a little as she scooped Toby off the floor and ran from the room.

“That was fun,” Rose laughed. “Oh, she probably won’t be able to look at you for hours.”

“Payback for Bryonn and this.” He pushed out a breath and dug around his jacket for his sonic. “You never ate, Rose. Why don’t you go find something while I work through this disaster?”

“I’d completely forgotten. I do that too much. You rubbed off on me.” He opened his mouth to make a comment, but she pointed at him and said, “Don’t even. Jenny might be close enough to hear.”

“You’re right,” he said with a chuckle. “Run along, my dear, else I might be tempted to scar her for life.”

He wiggled his brows and Rose snorted before leaving the room. It didn’t take him long to figure out he’d have to buy a damned part to fix the toilet and, since there were other bathrooms they could use, it wasn’t much of a priority. He could handle it later. No, what was of the utmost importance to him was finding his daughter and his future missus. He left the room following a request that the TARDIS drain the standing water, pulled the door closed, and used the sonic to dry his suit.

The corridors shifted as he walked and he finally found Rose and Jenny in Rose’s preferred galley. Staying quiet, he watched the two talk as they reheated macaroni cheese and cooked more sausages.

“I don’t know, Jenny,” Rose was saying. “You’d have to ask your father. I wouldn’t care, but I would obviously insist upon a few rules.”

“Oh,” Jenny said nervously. “What sort of rules?”

“That whole separate bedrooms thing doesn’t fool me. I see right through it. I’d insist upon a wedding first.”

Jenny gulped. “A wedding?”

“Yes.”

Frowning, he watched Rose stare while Jenny fidgeted under her gaze. Rose’s expression was clear - she wouldn’t compromise on this, whatever this was.

“Is it necessary, though?”

“Do you love him?”

“Yes, of course I do.”

“Do you want to make him happy?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Would marrying him and living here really be that bad? You’d both get what you want.”

What? No! They were talking about that lecherous scoundrel, Bryonn!

“Okay,” Jenny finally agreed. “You’re right. What else?”

“For your father’s sake and, well, mine, too, keep it in your room. You know what I mean.” Jenny gaped. “We don’t wanna see it and you know your dad would lose his cool and probably his mind, too, if he caught you two.”

And Bryonn would probably lose his head and his-

“Um, no problems there. It’s funny when his face gets that purple when I talk about stuff like that, but I’d actually, permanently die of embarrassment, I think, if he... or you...”

“I’m glad that rule’s going to be so easy to obey. One more thing... If you two start talking about, you know.” Rose looked at Jenny’s stomach and he felt a spasm in his left heart. Was he about to have a particularly human heart attack? “Warn me first. Even if you guys just mention it in passing, okay? I don’t want to be blindsided by your father’s paroxysms if you ever do, ehm, find yourself, er, expectant.”

At least this subject made her uncomfortable.

“Erm, they’re cute and all,” Jenny replied awkwardly, “but I’m not too sure I ever want kids.”

He frowned. No grandchildren? Never mind he’d have many other children that might possibly give him grandchildren. Jenny could give him grandchildren sooner than the others.

“You’re still young, Jenny. I didn’t want kids, either, when I was young. Didn’t even know I wanted ‘em until I fell in love with your father.”

Jenny looked at her oddly, her eyes gleaming and her mouth agape.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Never for a second thought I’d one day be standing here knowing I was gonna have a baby in a few years and with him!” Rose laughed disbelievingly. “I’ve pinched myself so many times today just to make sure I’m still awake. Probably have a bruise by now.”

“Just a few years? When are you gonna have a baby?”

“Your dad said about two years.”

“Whoa.” Jenny abruptly beamed. “I’m gonna have a, what did you say, sister in two years?”

“Yeah. Beatrice.”

“Wicked.”

Rose frowned. “Maybe you should wait to bring up that whole Bryonn thing with your dad, because there’s a good chance you’re still a teenager.”

Jenny rolled her eyes, started to say something, but caught sight of him and froze with her mouth still open. Rose turned to him and he waved.

“Can’t really explain why I didn’t speak before now,” he remarked. “Guess I was, um, simply content watching you two.”

Rose sighed. “How much did you hear?”

“Rules and why they might be necessary… and everything after.”

“Oh, dear.”

“Quite.”

Rose bit her lip, glanced at Jenny, and then grimaced at him.

“Just pretend you didn’t hear anything.”

He smiled. “Oh, I planned to, yeah. Don’t even wanna think about anything you two said.”

Rose snorted. “Yeah, that’s your father, Jen. If he doesn’t acknowledge something, it either didn’t happen or doesn’t exist.”

“I’m not that bad, am I?”

“Not anymore.”

“You called me Jen,” Jenny interrupted. “Why?”

“Oh, sorry. Do you not like it? It just came out.”

The Doctor glanced at his daughter and tamped down on a chuckle. She more than liked it. Her expression said as much.

“No, it’s not bad. Just wasn’t expecting it.”

He grinned. ‘Not bad.’ Ha. Comical. He very well might crack a rib suppressing his laughter.

“I’ll stick to Jenny,” Rose said apologetically. “You’re probably like your dad when it comes to nicknames. I didn’t even think.”

“Now I don’t dislike nicknames in general, Rose,” he remarked, eying her. “Just when Jack comes up with them.”

“Well, that one time wasn’t so much a nickname as an, er, rhyme.”

‘The Doc with the long cock’ (ick) and ‘Dr. Ten Inch’ (why?) had both been banned an eternity ago and he still got addressed as such during phone calls. To this day! It was infuriating.

“It - no, both of them weren’t even particularly well made, either. He should be ashamed.”

Rose shrugged. “That’s Jack for ya. He wasn’t lying, though.”

“Rose,” he chuckled. “Don’t flatter me.”

“I wasn’t much.”

Jenny laughed darkly, almost knowingly and he looked at her in horror.

“Stop it.”

“Stop what? I’m not the one talking about your-”

“Jenny!” he yelped. “Stop.”

“Behave, Jenny.” Rose chuckled. “Want him to reverse that teasing again?”

Jenny blanched. “No.”

“Then stop. You know he can give as good as he gets.”

“I’ll stop. I promise.”

Despite his lingering horror, he was feeling quite proud. Rose, his soon-to-be wife, had handled Jenny so easily just now and Jenny was actually behaving for her. Mind, he would have preferred Jenny behave for him, as well, but at least she listened to one of them. He couldn’t help but send a grin Rose’s way.

“Doctor, mind helping Jen...ny set the table?”

“I don’t mind Jen,” Jenny quickly said. “If you wanna call me that, I won’t mind.”

His grin widened and Rose looked surprised.

“Are you sure? I can say Jenny just as easily as Jen. It-”

“I don’t care. Whichever you want.”

“Er, okay.” Rose peeked at him and smiled uncertainly when she saw his grin. “Alright. Wanna help your dad with the table?”

“Um, sure.”

He frowned at his daughter. “Way to sound enthusiastic, Jenny.”

“Hey,” Jenny said, shrugging. “She’s more fun than you and _she_ immediately liked me.”

He went to retort to that statement, perhaps defend himself, but Rose lifted a hand. It caught their attention and they focused their gazes on her.

“You two, be nice to each other. You’re all the family you have right now so no arguing.”

In tandem, Jenny and he said, “we have you, too.”

Rose snorted. “Not quite yet. I did say family, didn’t I?”

“Just ‘cause you’re not married yet doesn’t mean you’re not family,” Jenny quickly stated. “Right, Dad?”

Rose’s smile made a warm, happy feeling spread through his belly and chest.

“Quite right, Jenny.”

***

“I’ve been thinking.”

Still blissed out from their lovemaking earlier, the Doctor managed to nod. Further surprising himself, he opened his eyes and focused on the nude form in the bed beside him.

“Beautiful.”

“Doctor, focus.”

“Ah. Right. You’ve been thinking.” His eyes slipped closed once more and he smiled when Rose giggled. “Dare I ask about what?”

“We have two years to prepare for the baby.”

“Yeah. Two whole years.”

“ _Only_ two years. Baby-proofing, Doctor. That’s gotta happen and this is a big ship.”

He paused and really thought about it. The TARDIS was vast inside and even he wasn’t sure what all was laying around.

“I can close off some of the more dangerous areas of the ship. It wouldn’t be too difficult to baby-proof the rest - perhaps just the areas we use most - once that’s out of the way.”

“You could ask the Old Girl for help.”

“Mm. Suppose that’d be easier. Who’d have thought a Time Lord would ask for help from his TARDIS?”

“You used to do it all the time.”

He grinned with his eyes closed. “I’d like to see you prove that.”

“Oh, shut it, you.” Rose curled around his side and breathed against his skin. “I wonder what Jenny’s doing.”

“Perhaps falling even more under the spell of her soon-to-be stepmother.”

“What?”

“Oh, come on. Really? She loves you!” Rose didn’t say anything and he snorted. “That girl’s practically been hanging off your every word almost from the moment she met you. You’ve really not noticed?”

“No.”

“Well, we knew it would happen. I simply wasn’t aware it happened so quickly.”

“That’s not bad, is it?”

“Quite the opposite, you silly woman. I want my girls to get along.” The Doctor laughed happily. “My girls. I like that. We should get married at some point in the near future, by the way, if we want to be wed before Betty comes along.”

“Sounds good to me. Want an actual ceremony or to just exchange vows with an official?”

“Well, I think since this is the last time we’ll be getting married... and Jenny wanted to be there, remember?”

“Ceremony, then?”

“Might as well make a party of it and if we’re lucky, we’ll run into some trouble along the way.”

“I’m thinking invasion.”

“I’m glad I’m not the only one who considers an invasion as a possible event at their wedding.”

“It’s pretty likely, knowing us.” The Doctor chuckled and finally opened his eyes. He suddenly looked to the door and frowned. Rose glanced between it and him and then gave him her own frown. “What is it?”

“It’s Jenny. She’s been quiet for too long and that worries me. I’m almost afraid to find out what she’s doing.”

Rose snorted. “She’s not a toddler, Doctor. I’m sure she’s not out there destroying anything.”

“What if she’s broken something on the console? We’ll be stuck in the vortex until I can fix it and that’s only if we have the necessary parts onboard!” A panicky feeling built in his chest. “Actually, that’s a good point. What if one of the children someday break something, we don’t have the part onboard, and I can’t go anywhere to get it?”

“Whoa. Calm down. You’re freaking out about nothing. Has that ever happened?”

“Well-”

“How many things out there can really be broken so badly that we can’t leave the vortex?”

“Well, when you put it like that...”

“See?” Rose grinned. “All better.”

He kissed her.

“You’re brilliant, but I still think I would rest easier knowing what Jenny’s doing. She’s my daughter, after all, and-”

“Oh, good God, you’re right.”

Rose was up, dressed in a robe, and out the door before he even knew what was happening. When he finally caught the sound of her voice, he knew something had happened and he wouldn’t be happy about it.

Oh, help him. He hadn’t heard any details yet and he was already afraid.

“I really didn’t mean to!” Jenny cried. “I was trying to cook, but I’ve never been taught how so I thought I’d follow this book-”

Oh, Christ, the galley.

“Jenny, explain later,” Rose said, sounding frazzled. “Get the extinguisher.”

Extinguisher? He kicked up his fast walk into a sprint, bounded into the galley, and was taken aback by the sight of flames leaping from the cooker.

“What did you do?”

“Doctor, worry more about the fire right now.”

“Right, right.”

Upon finding the sonic buried in his trousers pocket, he lifted it up and activated the water sprinkler system overhead to the highest setting. He gestured at Rose to put down the extinguisher since the sprinkler system would put out the flames and then turned to Jenny, who was scuffing her shoe in the water building up on the floor. He didn’t like it. Second time in one twenty-four-hour period that they’d dealt with a crisis.

“I think it was an accident, Doctor,” Rose said gently. “She’s never been taught to cook.”

“So you decided to cook without one of us around to supervise?”

“I wanted to make you guys a cake. It was supposed to be a surprise.” A small smile bloomed on Rose’s lips and his grumpiness faded away. “Sorry, Dad. Sorry, Rose.”

“At least promise you’ll ask for help next time. What would you have done if Rose hadn’t found you?”

“Honestly? I’d probably be tied to a post right about now.”

A startled laugh escaped Rose and Jenny grinned. Seemed she’d gotten his sense of humor, too.

“You’re ornery.”

“She’s just like you,” Rose whispered to him.

“I’ll ask for help next time,” Jenny said. “I promise.”

“Good. Incidentally, she _was_ destroying something, Rose. We’ll have to use the other galley until I get this cleaned up.”

He bounced on his heels to make his point and water sloshed over his bare feet. Jenny fidgeted.

“Sorry, Dad.”

“Don’t do it again. Rose, take her with you and please don’t let her out of your sight. I’m gonna get started in here.”

Rose grinned at Jenny, who immediately smiled in return.

“We’ll find something a little less dangerous to do. Girls only, Doctor.”

He snorted. He’d be in here for hours so no danger of interrupting girl time.

“Go on, you two.”

***

“Can I pick out my own dress?”

Pausing outside the media room, the Doctor found himself wondering what Jenny and Rose were talking about. Why did she need a dress?

“Of course you can. Honestly, we haven’t even begun planning anything, sweetie.”

Planning? He scooted closer and blocked out the rest of the sounds filtering into his head.

“Oh. But you are gonna have a real wedding, right? Like with a dress and everything.”

Ah.

“Yeah. Your dad made a good point. It’ll be our last one so we might as well.”

“That’s cool. What kind of wedding did you have when you married my human Dad?”

Rose tittered. “I wonder what your dad would say if he’d heard that.”

Considering he was trying very hard not to laugh, he doubted he’d be able to say anything.

“I don’t know. I couldn’t call him the human one or the human Doctor, because it’s weird thinking of him as the Doctor. He’s just my dad.”

“No, I get it. It was just funny, Jen. I had a traditional wedding. Have you ever been to one?”

“Once with Bryonn.”

That daughter-corrupting sod.

“Really?”

“Yeah, his cousin got married. She was cool. Her bridesmaids and everything wore suits for the ceremony.”

“What did the groomsmen wear?”

“Suits. They all wore ‘em, but the girls had on pretty, red shirts and no ties and the guys wore ties that matched the girls’ shirts. The girls changed into red dresses for the after party.”

“The reception.”

“Right. That.”

“Well, that’s an interesting idea. Probably wouldn’t like it for my own wedding, but it’d be fun to do.”

He could just imagine Rose dressing in a suit. Not that she’d wear it for long. He grinned widely. He was such a naughty man sometimes.

“It was certainly fun to watch. I imagined my own wedding, you know.”

He froze, not even taking a breath. She’d considered her own wedding, despite her thoughts on the subject of marriage? What sort of man was this Bryonn?

“Did you? How did that come about?”

“One time, Bryonn was talking about it. He was just saying he’d wait until I was ready. I mean, I wasn’t at the time or anything.”

“Naturally.”

“I don’t know. It got me thinking. That’s good, right? Just means I’ll know what I want when I’m ready, I guess.”

“Right, yes, of course. Wanna tell me about it?”

“It’s silly,” Jenny mumbled. “We should be focusing on yours and Dad’s wedding.”

“We have time. I want to hear about yours. If it’s what you want, it can’t be silly.”

“I wanted Dad to give me away,” Jenny blurted. “Just like humans do... Is that weird? Because I’m not a human. You know.”

He smiled widely.

“No, it’s not. Do you really?”

“Yeah. There’s just something… I like what it represents, you know? I don’t know. It still feels silly. I mean, back then, I never thought I’d be here today, on his ship with him and my future... his future wife. Never thought he’d want me back.”

“Why would you even think that?”

“He didn’t even stay to bury me. I didn’t think...”

“Oh, Jenny.” Great. His guilt was back tenfold. He was an arse. “He does love you. I’m sure it just hurt too much to watch his daughter be buried. He’s lost so much already.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Take my word for it, sweetie. He loves you. I promise.” Rose lightly cleared her throat and said in a much more chipper voice, “So back to your wedding. You wanted your dad to give you away?”

“Yeah.”

Was he still smiling or was he smiling again? No, again, right? He’d been feeling like an arse seconds before so it had to be again.

“What else?”

“I don’t know... Amelie - that’s Bryonn’s cousin. She wore this pretty, white dress to a dinner the night before her wedding. It was simple, made of lace. I liked it.”

“Is that the kind of dress you’d like to wear?”

“I guess.”

“You don’t have to be embarrassed talking about this, Jen, and you don’t have to tell me, of course. I was just curious.”

It took Jenny a few moments to say anything, moments he spent biting his lip.

“I wanted orange and yellow flowers.”

“Yeah?”

“What did you have?”

“We settled on - well, they looked like lilies, but that world called them Belle Morgans. I don’t know why.”

“Lilies are pretty.”

“They are.”

“I wanted to be married outside.”

“Oh,” Rose gasped. “I did, too, but we didn’t want to wait. We had to settle for late fall at Pete’s church.”

“You could still do it.”

“We’ll see. I might just leave that to you.”

“But I won’t want to get married for a long while,” Jenny argued and then quickly added, “if at all, I mean.”

“We discussed the rules, Jenny. It’s your decision what you end up doing, but you know where I stand and I’m going to stick to my decision. I’m sure your father would agree with me if he stopped pretending he didn’t hear that conversation.”

“I know. Do you think Dad’s really going to be able to forget what he heard?”

Rose giggled. “Probably not. If it ever comes to mind, though, he’ll just ignore whatever thought he has.”

He would, yes.

“It’s kinda funny, isn’t it?”

“A little, I suppose, but he is your father.”

“Yeah, he is, but _you_ don’t have problems discussing it with me.”

His. Cheeks. Ached. When had he started smiling again? Or was it still?

“We... see things differently. I accept you all will grow up at some point, but he doesn’t want to.”

“Guess I can see that, ‘cause if I ever... well, I wouldn’t want to think about it, either.”

“Never let your father say you’re nothing like him,” Rose laughed, “‘cause you’re exactly alike, I swear.”

Jenny merely giggled.

***

“Hey.”

“Mmm?” The Doctor swallowed thickly and tightened his hold on Rose. “Rose? What’s it?”

“Dad.” He heard a giggle. “It’s Jenny.”

“That’s nice.”

“I thought Time Lords weren’t supposed to sleep that much.”

He frowned. “Go back to sleep.”

“Dad.” Poke, poke. “Are you actually awake?”

“No.”

There was that giggle again. That wasn’t Rose’s, was it? Wait. There was a name in there just a few seconds ago.

“Daaad?”

Oh, yes, Jenny. The annoyance he’d spawned and unfortunately loved too much to toss out the door.

“What do you want?”

“I’m bored and you and Rose are asleep, even though we’re not supposed to sleep too much, remember?”

“Hmm. Vaguely remember that, yeah.” The Doctor buried his face in the crook of Rose’s neck. “Go play with the mutt.”

“He’s not a mutt,” Jenny retorted hotly, “and his name is Toby. He’s also asleep. Entertain me.”

“You could say please,” he pointed out drowsily.

“Don’t want to. Plus, I wanna bake my future step-mum a cake and you said I couldn’t cook or anything without supervision so...”

“You’re a pain in my arse, child. Go away.”

Jenny huffed loudly. “Dad, come on. Are you seriously – Eww. You’re not dressed, are you?”

An unbelievably wide smile stretched from one side of his face to the other. He then let out a chuckle and cracked open an eye to glance at his daughter.

“No, I’m not. Now go away.”

“Groooooss.”

“I didn’t ask you to come in here, you know, and in case you feel like disturbing me in the future, I feel I should tell you I sleep nude now. Keep that mind, why don’t ya?”

“Doctor,” Rose grumbled. “Quit tellin’ her stuff like that. You’ll scar her for life. Lives, perhaps.”

“Oops.” He glanced at Jenny. “Might have done already. Sorry.”

“Rose,” Jenny whined. “I’m bored and Dad won’t let me bake alone, but I want to bake a cake, except he’s still in bed and I’ve asked a _billion_ times. Will you make him get up?”

He opened his mouth and Rose promptly put her hand up, covering his mouth without even opening an eye. Amazing. He couldn’t suppress a laugh. She knew him too well.

“Doctor, you’re the Time Lord and I’m the hu- er, the sorta human that still needs sleep. Of the two of us-” Rose yawned and then finished with, “which do you think is getting up with her?”

“The one that doesn’t need to sleep away his day,” he sighed.

“Mhmm.”

“Fine. Go away, Jenny. I wasn’t joking about sleeping nude and I won’t have you see me.”

He glanced up in time to see Jenny blanch.

“So gross, Dad. I’m going. Like, right now. Just...ew.”

She was out the door in two seconds flat. He chuckled and Rose rolled until she was facing him. Humming contentedly, he hugged her to his chest for a moment and felt her lips brush the lobe of his ear.

“You deserve a reward.”

“Is it going to be like this with all of the children?”

She snorted breathily. “What do you think?”

“I can only imagine it will be.”

“Good answer.”

“Humph. You said something about a reward?” He grinned. “Any chance that involves you, me, and any bared skin?”

“Oh, definitely.”

“Any chance I’ll get that reward before-”

“Dad,” Jenny yelled through the door. “If you’re still in bed, I’m waking Rose back up.”

Rose laughed and pushed at his chest. He rolled onto his back with a loud groan and scowled at the ceiling. Children. Why was he having them again? He peeked at Rose and his grumpy mood lessened. Oh, yeah. They’d be Rose’s, too, and that was just wonderful.

“I’m up,” he called just in case she decided to come back in. “Tell her, Rose.”

“He is, Jenny. Go make some coffee.”

“I don’t know how.”

“Then just wait in the galley, for Pete’s sake,” he yelled. Rose gave him a look and he lowered his voice just a tad as he called out, “sorry, Jenny. Just go wait in the galley. I’ll be in shortly.”

“You’re positive?”

“If he’s not there in fifteen minutes, you can come back. Maybe dig out a snack or something while you’re waiting. Your dad can cook if he needs to.”

“Cool. Fifteen minutes,” Jenny repeated loudly and then ran down the corridor, sounding like an actual elephant rampaging through the halls. The Doctor looked to Rose quizzically.

“Why fifteen minutes? It doesn’t take me that long to dress.”

She smiled like the cat who got the canary and rolled over, her hands moving between his legs below the bedding.

“I did say you deserve a reward, didn’t I?”

“Yes, but we don’t have nearly enough time for what I want to do to you.”

“Later. For now, you’re gonna find out why your human counterpart loved my mouth so much, Doctor.”

“Well, alright. Should be fun.”

***

In a daze, the Doctor made it to the galley with exactly thirty seconds to spare in his fifteen-minute time limit. Words could never describe what Rose had just done to him, but individual words like devoured and electrified came to mind.

“God,” Jenny groaned upon seeing him. “You were almost late, Dad. M-Rose woulda taken less time to get dressed, I think.”

He was just barely back in the land of the living so he couldn’t actually muster a smile at Jenny’s almost slip. Later, he promised himself, he’d think about that later.

“Sorry, Jen. I was...” Distracted seemed to be the right - no, the appropriate word. “Distracted. Sorry.”

“You already said that.” Jenny closely looked at him and then gagged. “No wonder you were gone so long. Just when did you get out of bed, Dad?”

Tummy one twisted. “Stop it.”

“Well, I mean, really. You were supposed to be hanging out with me, not being gross with your future wife.”

Well, if she was going to do her best to disgust him, he could do the same. Maybe then she’d stop.

“Sorry.” He smiled widely and Jenny’s expression faltered. “I was defenseless. The woman just attacked me, Jenny, and I wasn’t strong enough to keep her at bay. Doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it, though. Immensely.”

“Dad, no.”

“I did tell you to stop and Rose has already warned you. I can go on...”

Jenny, incredibly, looked even more sick. He hadn’t thought that was possible.

“Okay. Stop. I’ll stop. I promise I will.”

“Until the next time you feel like being a brat.”

“Yeah, well, there’ll come a day when the Daddy instinct will really kick in and you won’t be able to say stuff like that to me.”

That was likely very true.

“Probably not,” he said casually, hoping it covered the lie. “Find a snack or anything? Are you hungry?”

“Not really. I just wanna bake that cake. I never got to.”

“You mean the one that was originally supposed to be for both of your, er, parents and then somehow just became Rose’s?”

“Yup!”

“...brat.”

“Get used to it, Dad. You’re gonna have a bunch more with me for a big sister.”

“God help us,” he said, looking to the ceiling but watching for Jenny’s reaction, which was priceless. She stopped mid-nod and then glared at him.

“Hey!”

He laughed. “Okay, then. Let’s bake a cake. What do you want to make for her?”

“Bryonn used to make this-” She peeked at him and then flipped her ponytail. “Never mind. Chocolate?”

“You can talk to me about anything, Jenny,” he said as convincingly as possible, his smile feeling tight. “I’m your father. I won’t judge you or get angry.”

“Yeah, that’s what Rose said.”

“And she wouldn’t lie to you.”

She looked at him half a dozen times, looking completely uncertain the entire time, and then nodded.

“Okay,” she said finally. “Um, Bryonn used to make this super chocolatey layered cake thing for me when I was feeling down.”

He used to bake for her? Who _was_ this man?

“About what?”

“Mostly you,” she whispered, “but about other stuff, too.”

“I see. He seems... helpful.”

There. Nice word choice. It wasn’t too positive or negative. That was good, right? Jenny gave him a small smile.

“He was great. Rose thinks you’d have liked him.”

He didn’t respond to that, because he wasn’t so sure he would have if the prat was trying to steal his daughter away from him.

“When did you... that is to say... What I really mean is how long were you together? No! How long did you date?”

Yes, that sounded better.

Jenny laughed. “It’s okay, Dad. I’m not gonna say anything... even though you know what kind of relationship we had and it’s silly you pretend otherwise, ‘cause I’m not a little kid and Rose will tell you the same thing.”

“That, Jenny, was something,” he said dryly. “You never answered me.”

“Guess I didn’t. Three years, but we were friends for months before that.”

“Oh, yeah?” Three years. She’d only been alive five years, give or take a couple months! Blimey. Who was this Bryonn? Perhaps he needed to look into him a little more. “Were you, uh, did you share a house?”

“That’s probably the most awkward way you could’ve asked if we were living together, Dad.” His left heart again spasmed. That’d been happening too much since he’d found Jenny. Perhaps he needed to run a medical scan later. “Um, I didn’t really have anywhere else to live - ‘cept my ship, I mean - and we were roommates before we... er, started dating.”

He didn’t want to know why she hesitated before speaking that last part. Wouldn’t even ponder. They hadn’t just fallen into bed before they - No! That was pondering, dammit. He would not ponder. Ever. No.

“Right,” he said belatedly. “Did you remain...?”

“Separate? As in stayed in our own rooms?”

He swallowed thickly. “Yes.”

“At first, yeah. When I was there, I mean. Did a lot of traveling in the beginning.”

“Just the beginning?”

He refused to think about anything else she might have just told him. He’d survive if he just seized the little titbits and ignored the other, heart-spasm-inducing information. See? He was a good dad already, right?

“Yeah, it was... a little harder to leave after a while. That’s partially why I left for good. He was making me into something I didn’t want to be.”

“Domestic?” he asked, secret smile on his lips.

“Pretty much. I...”

“You simply weren’t ready to settle down.”

“Sort of, yeah. Thing is... I asked Rose already, but I’m curious about your take on it. How was I to know Bryonn was the right one, you know? I didn’t have a mum or dad with any sort of relationship to use as a guide, didn’t even have a father figure in my life and don’t they say girls end up with boys like their dads? Or is that a myth?”

He floundered for a moment. How was she to know the little twerp was the right one? She’d honestly thought about it? Yes, it would seem she did and in depth, too.

“Er, well, you knew what sort of man I am, didn’t you?”

“Oh, yeah,” Jenny said, abruptly downhearted. “Traveler, saver of worlds and people, not too domestic, definitely didn’t want kids. Bryonn was nothing like you.”

He considered leaving it there. He really did and then he’d never again have to hear about the _child_ who’d somehow stolen his daughter’s hearts. However, Rose would be extremely displeased and he daren’t land himself in the metaphorical doghouse when he’d literally just gotten her back. He let out a long sigh. Best do the right thing, then. Damn.

“Rose told me he died for you.”

“Yeah, they managed to bring him back.” She frowned, almost as if to herself. “That was the scariest day of my life.”

“Not the day you took a bullet for your own father?”

“No, I wouldn’t have lived through that one.”

He didn’t point out that she actually had, because he’d read between the lines. She’d have been truly, honestly devastated if this Bryonn fellow had died. He was definitely looking this boy up the moment he got the chance. He pushed out a deep sigh and settled on one of the chairs around their small table.

“Did you know I died for your mum? Er, I meant for Rose.”

Her eyes widened. “You did?”

“Yes,” he sighed. “Cost me my last body, but it was worth it. That’s when she was exposed to vortex energy.”

“Oh, wow,” she breathed. “Bryonn almost died for me and he wouldn’t have changed. He’d just have been dead.”

“Yes,” he agreed uneasily.

“But surely that’s not enough to know someone’s the right one, right?”

He huffed. He didn’t want to be the one in this position, didn’t want to be the one to blame if she realized Bryonn was “the one,” didn’t want to be having this entire conversation, didn’t want to face the fact she was an adult.

But. He sighed quietly and looked at Jenny. Oh, but. There was always a damned but and this was a big one. But - grr - it was obvious she was in love with this Bryonn given all he’d heard today. It was just as obvious the sod loved his daughter.

Damn it all to hell.

“Did you know,” he asked quietly, “when Rose was gone, I’d call her phone just to hear her say her name over voicemail?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“I couldn’t stand not hearing her voice.”

Jenny absolutely lit up.

“But I do the same thing! I call Bryonn when I want to hear his voice, Dad. What does that mean? Is that good? Wait. My own father did it and he’s in love with Rose and she’s in love with him so - Dad?”

She was looking at him hopefully now and it killed him to have to respond.

“Well,” he said slowly, “you did say you didn’t have parents to use as a guide. Now you do.”

“But...?”

“Is he the one?” he asked and Jenny nodded. “What do your hearts say, Jenny?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve not lived very long.”

He ignored the small, hopeful part of himself that said maybe this was Jenny’s version of a youthful infatuation. Somehow, he just didn’t see that being the case.

“Alright. He certainly loved you enough to be willing to die for you, correct?”

“Yeah.”

“Just like I did for Rose.”

She smiled. “Yeah.”

“And, as Rose pointed out, there’s Toby.”

“He wanted kids,” Jenny murmured and stared at him hard. “Toby was the next best thing? He got a puppy to make both of us happy, didn’t he?”

“Well, if the man couldn’t have children with the woman he loved...”

He remembered Jack, Mickey, and, to a much smaller degree, Adam. Those days were gone, though, days where keeping pets were as much as they could have between them (and who cared if their pets were human and didn’t know he’d thought of all of them as drooling puppy dogs?). He had a long, bright future ahead of him now, one that included children with Rose. He sighed, feeling a bit lovestruck and dopily happy.

“Oh, my god,” Jenny breathed. “He was the right one and I just… I let him go! What if he doesn’t want me back?”

The Doctor frowned. “Does he still answer your phone calls?”

“Yeah.”

“How many rings before he does?”

“One. Well, there was that one time he missed my call, but he was in a meeting at work. Why?”

“How long did it take him to call you back?”

“Maybe half an hour.”

“Probably called you on his way out of the meeting, then.”

She stared at him for a few moments and then her eyes widened.

“Wait. He might take me back?”

He chuckled, despite his trepidation.

“I don’t know, Jenny. You’d have to ask him. I can say, however, the odds are good.”

He blinked and she was gone. He frowned, rubbed his eyes, and looked again, but she still wasn’t there. Had he been hallucinating or was he sleeping?

Oww. No, he was definitely awake. The Doctor rubbed his leg as he headed back to his bedroom (well, it was Rose’s now, too - ooh, shivers - so perhaps he should have thought ‘their’). He tried to make sense of what just happened. Had he hallucinated that entire exchange or had Jenny literally disappeared? No, neither of those seemed likely. Worse still (and far more likely), had she really just left him without a word so she could go call that little whelp?

It was with a scowl that he entered his and Rose’s bedroom - ooh, shiver again - and looked at the beauty within. Rose paused in the middle of fixing her hair and frowned.

“What are you doing back? I thought Jenny wanted to spend time with you.”

“And I thought you wanted to sleep more.”

Her frown deepened. “Couldn’t sleep after earlier. You taste delicious and thinking about it kept waking me up.”

“Humph.”

Delicious thought, though. He’d have to think about that one later, too.

“Doctor, what’s going on? Why are you grumpy?”

“Jenny just left me alone in the galley without even telling me a word, Rose, just so she could call that - that - Bryonn,” he groused and then looked back towards the door. “Least, I think she did.”

“What?”

“We were talking about Bryonn,” he admitted. “I just wanted to let her know she could talk to me about anything, but then she started talking about that wimp and wanted advice... I didn’t know what to say, but I tried my best and then she was gone. I blinked and she was just... gone.”

“One, you’ve never met him, sweetie, so don’t call him names. It’s not nice.” He merely grumbled at her. He knew it wasn’t nice, but neither was stealing a man’s daughter out from under his nose. “Two, I’m proud of you. I thought it’d take longer for you to be comfortable enough to talk about him.”

“It _will_ take longer. I was so uncomfortable, Rose. Rude as it was, I’m actually glad she disappeared.”

Rose chuckled. “That’s terrible. I’ll bet she’s in her room right now. Whatever you said must’ve bolstered her enough. I tried getting through to her earlier, tried making her see that surely Bryonn still loved her and whatnot, but clearly I wasn’t successful. Leave it to her father to say the right thing.”

Upon sitting on the end of their bed - damn, the shivers were never ending - and thinking back over Rose’s words, the Doctor frowned.

“Is that a thing, then?”

“That was incredibly vague, you know.”

He grinned. “I meant that father thing Jenny mentioned. You just reminded me. Do girls really look for a man like their father?”

Rose shrugged. “Well, the man I fell in love with died for me. So did my dad.”

He startled as it hit him her father _had_ died for her. Oh, not originally and not just for her in the end, but Rose had been the main reason he’d run out in front of that car back in the 1980s. A father recognized the look of a man willing to do anything to protect his young and Pete Tyler had been wearing that same look. Incidentally, he needed to stay out of Rose’s dreams when he got bored. They could be heartbreaking.

“I suppose perhaps it has some merit, then,” he mused. “Was, er, my human self - er, no. Was... Corin like Pete?”

He studied her, hoping he wasn’t upsetting her, and she gave him a little half smile.

“I never said why he died, Doctor, just that he was shot.”

“You mean he...?”

Her smile turned sad and she went back to fixing her hair. That was enough confirmation for him so he decided to move away from that. Seemed his human self truly had loved her, despite being half-Donna. He wondered if “Corin” had ever figured out Rose considered him second best, that he was not the love of her life (she herself had said, “My husband died, the love of my life was in another universe...”). His hearts ached for his human self for a moment. He was almost positive he had; with a Time Lord intelligence in his head... Blimey, there was no way he couldn’t have known. Rose’s lips suddenly met his, breaking him out of his melancholic thoughts. When she pulled back, she nuzzled his nose with her own and then smiled.

“You’re thinking too hard. Now come on. Let’s go cook. With any luck, Jenny’ll join us when she’s done on the phone.”

“Right, yes, good.” Distractions were good. “What do you think the odds are of her being on the phone all day, though?”

“Low, but she might want to visit Bryonn.” He looked over at her sharply and Rose shook her head. “Without you, Doctor. Would you have wanted your father at our reunion earlier?”

He looked at Rose in horror, his mind unwillingly picking up on what she was strongly hinting at.

“That’s it. We’re never landing again. Never ever ever _ever_ again.”

“Stop it,” she laughed and pulled his hand, leading him to the galley. “Maybe cooking will get your mind off of it.”

“You’re right. It’s certainly worth a try. What sounds appetizing?” Rose gave him a wide, tongue-between-teeth grin and wiggled her brows. He let out a startled laugh, stunned she was being the naughty one this time. “Rose Tyler, I’m shocked.”

“It’s actually been Smith for a decade, you know.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“I’m a Tyler in this universe, though.” He nodded and she crouched so she could see his downturned face. “Don’t do that. You would’ve figured it out sometime.”

“Suppose it just hit me you’ve lived ten years of your life and I wasn’t there to see any of it, Rose. It’s strange. Like you said, I eventually would have figured it out, yes, but I’d still been thinking of you as a Tyler.”

“It’ll take a while for you to get everything out of me, I think.” He winked lasciviously and she mimicked the wink. He quietly gasped in surprise and she grinned. “Ought to be fun learning everything I’ve done and felt in ten years, though, if we go about it right.”

“I absolutely love the way you think, woman.”

“If only you knew what all I’m thinking.” She chuckled darkly and licked her lips. “However, I think I hear Jenny so best wait ‘til later.”

“What?”

Finally taking his complete attention off Rose, though still slightly drooling over the sight of her breasts stretching her top, the Doctor noted Jenny was, indeed, prancing this way. There was no other way to describe it, either. She sounded like she was prancing.

Jenny entered the galley with a dreamy smile on her lips and walked right into Rose’s arms. All he could do was look at Rose in astonishment. Smiling, Rose happily returned Jenny’s hug and then gently pushed her back a bit.

“What’d I do to deserve that?”

“Whatever you said to Dad helped. Bryonn still loves me and wants me back! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Then Jenny was back to trying to crush Rose with a hug. Rose chuckled while he stared at them, his mouth hanging open.

“Jenny, I didn’t tell your father to talk to you about Bryonn. He did that on his own.”

“What? No, he didn’t.”

He cleared his throat. “Yes, I did.”

“But you couldn’t have. You think I’m a little kid.”

“Yeah, well, if I hadn’t talked to you, Rose would’ve been angry with me ‘cause I’d have let you continue thinking that little-” Rose cleared her throat pointedly. “-human,” he said carefully, “didn’t love you like I love Rose.”

“See?” Jenny asked brilliantly. “It _was_ you, Rose! Oh, you’re gonna be a good mum. I mean, you already are and you didn’t even have me.”

He just sighed. Even when he tried to be the good parent, Rose still came out on top. He snorted after thinking about that for a moment. He supposed that was alright in his book.

“Your father may have been doing it to keep me from getting angry, but you still have him to thank. You might consider hugging him, too.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Jenny turned from Rose and held her arms out, clearly expecting him to come to her. Rolling her eyes amusedly, Rose put her hand on the middle of Jenny’s back and lightly shoved her forward.

“Go on, Jenny. He’s the real one to thank, you know. I tried talking to you, but it’s your dad who got through to you in the end. Doesn’t matter why he decided to do it, remember, just that whatever he said worked.”

“You’re right,” Jenny agreed, her expression brightening. “Thank you so much, Dad.”

“You’re-” She was in his arms then and was doing her best to inhibit his breathing. He couldn’t seem to care much. He finished with a breathless, “welcome.”

She squeezed harder. His cheek resting on her head, he smiled and tightly returned her hug. When she finally released him, she immediately spun around and skipped back to Rose.

“I wanted to bake a cake earlier and I was telling Dad about the chocolate cake Bryonn used to make.”

“Oh,” Rose _moaned_. Seemed a crime to hear her use that voice without being able to act on it. “The one he used to make when you were sad?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, Doctor.” This, sadly, was not moaned. Then again, considering the effect her moans had on him, that was a good thing. “Bryonn learned the recipe from his mum, you see, and it sounds amazing. We should try making it.”

“She told you about it?”

“Yeah, when you were trying to fix the disaster in the other galley.”

“Ah.” While hoisting himself onto the edge of the counter, he asked, “what sort of cake was it?”

“Edible sin, it sounded like.” He grinned but didn’t comment. “There was this fudgy, gooey, chocolatey sauce stuff between tiny layers of chocolate cake.”

“And there were, like, at least nine of those tiny layers,” Jenny continued, “and on top was a different sort of icing, like fluffy, airy, chocolatey icing and there wasn’t too much of that. Just enough to taste.”

“On top of that,” Rose went on, “were pieces of shaved chocolate and a light drizzle of chocolate sauce.”

“That is so much chocolate,” he marveled. “How did that not send your body into shock?”

“Please,” Jenny scoffed. “I’m my father’s daughter. Take a lot more than a little chocolate cake to send my body into shock. Plus, there wasn’t a bunch of chocolate sauce and icing, Dad. I did say there wasn’t too much. Weren’t you listening?”

“Ah. And that culinary masterpiece-” He wanted to say, ‘See, Rose? That was a compliment. I am being nice.’ “-was the sort of cake you wanted to bake earlier?” He paused and then pointedly added, “without supervision.”

“I’ve seen Bryonn do it a thousand times. It wouldn’t be too hard doing everything once I got the cake baked and cooled.”

“We could certainly try,” Rose mused, “and even if it doesn’t turn out right, you can still tell Bryonn you gave it your best.”

He scowled at the mention of that thief’s name. The stupid daughter-stealer. No! Daughter-corrupter! Yes. The sod. Never mind being nice. He didn’t deserve the nice Time Lord. He deserved the ‘I’ll burn your planet if you so much as touch my daughter’ Time Lord. Wait. That little wimp’s planet was Earth. Ah, man. Rose would be so mad if he threatened to burn Earth (not that he’d carry out his threat if it was some other planet but still).

“I think he is,” Jenny randomly stated. “He’s doing that eyebrow thing again.”

“Doctor, stop thinking about it, will ya? It’ll only put you back in a mood.”

He harrumphed. Too late for that. OH-HO! He’d just had a brilliant thought, one that would keep Jenny from running back to the pitiful creature.

“He’s human,” he stated meaningfully. Jenny, busy gathering something from the cabinets, didn’t hear him, but Rose did. Oh, did she hear. She gave him a very unamused, pointed look and he slumped. “I was just saying, Rose.”

“I’m not trying to tell you how to be a father, Doctor. I’m really not. You’re her dad and I’m not even her step-mum yet.” Rose carefully arranged the dishes in front of her (Jenny’s doing, he assumed) and waited for Jenny to duck into the small pantry. “I’m just saying a man that puts his own happiness above that of his child isn’t a very good man at all.”

He sighed quietly. Had he been doing that? He’d like to think not. Is that what Rose thought he’d been doing?

“Oh, Rose, I’m not. It’s just… he’s human, he’s probably older than her – mentally, I mean, and I can’t help feeling she could find someone much better in the universe. Perhaps someone with a longer lifespan, right? Or someone who knows even a tiny fact about Gallifrey or what have you.”

“Doctor, she’s your daughter. There’s probably never going to be a man you approve of one-hundred percent so let her be happy with the man she fell in love with, alright? Please? I know it’s hurting her, you holding out. A daughter knows when her daddy doesn’t approve.”

She was looking at him with a sympathetic expression. It told him she knew exactly what she was talking about. Had Pete and Jackie had this same argument once? He didn’t bother stopping a small smile from curling his lips.

“Alright, Rose,” he sighed. “I give up. If she wants to throw away a few decades on the little whelp, who am I to stop her?”

“You know, Mum said almost the same thing about Corin.”

He laughed. He knew it.

“I’m surprised, Rose. I thought Pete would have been the one fighting to keep you away from my human self.”

“Nah, Dad always knew you both were good men. Mum’s the one that didn’t trust either of you farther than she could’ve thrown you. At least until after the wedding and everything. Then, Corin became ‘her son’ and she wanted him at every family meal and holiday. He acted like he hated it.”

“But he loved it, I’m sure.” She looked at him curiously and he shrugged. “I remember having Christmas dinner with you two. One of the best things I’d done in ages.”

“I knew you were faking that whole ‘this is demeaning for a Time Lord’ business. Didn’t help you were still wearing your paper crown when you said it.”

He chuckled. “I thought I’d forgotten something.”

“Hey, Dad,” Jenny’s voice carried from the pantry, “what’s vogamontin?”

“It’s similar to pancake syrup.”

“Oh, then what’s vidiyango?”

“Uranian salt. What are you looking for?”

“Chocolate syrup. Bryonn taught me how to cheat at the sauce recipe if I don’t have everything I need, but really, it’s easier and tastes about the same to use the syrup.”

“Ah. You might consider looking towards the top where the other chocolate items are. Third shelf.”

Rose looked at him quizzically. “When did you have time to alphabetize the pantry?”

“I didn’t. The TARDIS was bored a few weeks back.”

“Silly girl,” Rose murmured, smiling fondly at the wall. “What else has she done lately?”

“Um, I really don’t know. Haven’t been taking inventory. Hadn’t felt like it until, um, very recently.”

She stroked his arm but didn’t say anything.

***

“Just land the TARDIS,” Rose coached. He unwillingly complied and helped Rose, who was giggling, up from the floor. “Are you sure you’re not driving on the brake, Doctor?”

“This is no time to be picking on me, Rose.” Toby, the incessantly annoying mutt, woofed at him and he growled back. It only made Rose giggle harder (Toby, damn him, just yapped some more). “I don’t want to do this. I want to keep Jenny on this ship for the rest of eternity. Shoo, dog.”

“Oh, Doctor.” Rose smiled gently and placed a comforting hand on his chest. “It’ll be easy. Repeat what I said. Like this: Jenny and Bryonn are going for dinner and a movie. Typical, innocent date night stuff. Maybe they’ll hold hands, but that’s it.”

“Date night, Rose, rarely ends with an innocent activity.” Toby’s front paws landed on the backs of his knees and he rocked into Rose. “See? Even the dog knows.”

“Fine. If you’d prefer to think she’s going to be going out there just to-”

“They’re probably going to have Italian, right?” he asked loudly. “That’s good food to have on date night, isn’t it? Maybe something with lots of garlic and onions.”

“Or French. Jenny likes French food.”

He sighed. “Where did I go wrong?”

“You liked the French at one time.”

He fidgeted, remembering what exactly Rose was alluding to.

“No more French courtesans. I promise.”

“You better uphold that promise, but I really was just messing with you, honey. I got over that a long time ago.”

“I really need to teach you to pilot the TARDIS now I think about it,” he mused. “Wouldn’t be able to loop back for me, of course, but I’m sure we could figure out something later if a similar situation arises.”

“Probably make you wait a century before coming to get you,” she warned. “It’d serve you right.”

He gave her a grumpy look but could admit to himself at least that he would deserve it if she decided to do that. Jenny chose that moment to breeze into the control room, which set Toby to barking again.

“Shh, puppy,” she cooed. Toby stopped and continued to snort and slobber all over the grating below him. The Doctor’s mouth twisted up in distaste. He was going to have to clean that up later. “So, I’m ready. What do you think?”

She was wearing something that looked disturbingly like a naughty nightgown. It was all lacy and silky and light pink with tiny little straps at her shoulders. He looked down and felt his frown grow. She was wearing high heels, balancing on the toes to avoid slipping through the holes in the floor. They were the kind of heels Rose never wore. Her dress was too short. Especially for heels that tall.

“Oh, that dress looks lovely on you, sweetheart,” Rose enthused. “I’m glad we found it in the wardrobe.”

“Oldie helped, remember?”

“After I asked for her help. You were just gonna meander around for ages until you found something. Now put on your jacket before your father loses it.”

She and Jenny both looked at him. Rose didn’t laugh like Jenny did, which he appreciated, but she did smile. Toby started sniffing Jenny’s legs and the Doctor couldn’t help but wonder if he bore any resemblance to the cretin Jenny was about to go meet.

“Sorry, Rose. Couldn’t resist teasing him.” Jenny shoved her arms into the sleeves of a denim jacket and turned in a circle. “Do I look pretty?”

“You’re beautiful,” he replied dutifully but honestly. “Don’t take your jacket off tonight.” He took another look at her. “And button it up.”

“You’re gorgeous,” Rose spoke while giving him an exasperated look. “You have our numbers, right?”

Jenny pulled a phone from – where had that even been hiding? – God only knew where and checked something. Most likely her contacts list.

“Yeah.”

“Good. I want you to have fun and call when you’re ready to come home.”

Smiling blindingly, Jenny attached herself to Rose and even pressed a quick kiss to her cheek when she was done hugging her. She then turned to him and he couldn’t let her go when she tried stepping back from his hug.

“Rose,” Jenny complained. “He’s messing up my hair.”

“Doctor,” Rose laughed and tugged at his arm. “Let her go.”

“I can’t. My arms have a mind of their own.”

“Yeah, the one in your head, Dad. Lemme go.” Jenny squirmed and whined, “Rose.”

Rose snuck around behind him and suddenly, slyly caressed his bum before giving him a quiet slap. He let go of Jenny in shock and she darted far away from him.

“No fair, Rose,” he groused. “You caught me by surprise.”

“Yeah, well, holding me hostage wasn’t very fair, either, Dad. I’m gonna go before he gets ahold of me again.” After attaching Toby to his leash, Jenny blew Rose a kiss and gave him a grumpy look. “Bye.”

“Bye, sweetie. Tell Bryonn we said hi.” Rose glanced at him. “And that we want to meet him someday soon.”

“Really? You do? Both of you, right? Not just Dad.”

“No, both of us.”

Jenny grinned. “Cool. Okay, I’ll tell him.”

She ducked through the door after that, Toby in tow, and he turned back to Rose with a frown.

“Dinner and a movie,” she repeated, brows arched. “Better get us back in the vortex, Doctor, because I’m not letting you walk out that door the moment I’m distracted.”

“You’re really ruining my fun, Rose.”

“Actually, I have some plans now that we’re alone and you’re ruining mine by not getting us in the vortex first.”

“You have plans? Care to share?”

She grinned. “You’ll find out if you ever get us out of here. Meet me in the bedroom when you’re done.”

“Read that well enough,” he remarked, quickly setting to work. “I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

Rose winked and hurried down the corridor. He stared at her back a moment and then whistled quietly under his breath.

She was perfect. Damn.

***

Releasing his lips, Rose arched back and flung her hair over her shoulder. He bit his lip, grabbed her hips in a tighter grip, and felt his belly further tighten up. He _would_ hold on even if it killed him. Hear that, body? That was a command.

“Now this,” he panted, “is the reunion shag I’ve been trying to get.”

She chuckled breathlessly. “Worried we’d make too much noise before?”

“Considering how loud we’re both being right now-” To prove his point, he groaned at an embarrassing volume when Rose did that particularly thrilling move with her hips. “-yeah. Be harder to do this when we have children underfoot all the time.”

“More, you mean, ‘cause we already have Jenny.”

“True. Might consider dropping them at Jack’s when the mood strikes.”

“Then they’d be there multiple times a day.”

“Suppose they’d start to suspect something was going on with Mummy and Daddy if we kept doing that. Right?”

“Yeah. Stop talking about the children when I’m trying to shag ya stupid.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Rose began rocking faster atop him and he automatically thrust his hips up, seeking to bury himself deeper into her. A telling flush came over her flesh and he gasped for breath.

“I’m close. You?” Ah, that was his cue to help her. “Doctor?”

“Huh? Oh, don’t even need to ask, do you?”

Her hips jerked forward when he began touching her and a cry slipped from her lips. Heat raced through his veins and gathered in his groin just as her nails dug into his chest and she threw her head back.

There was nothing more arousing than Rose mid-orgasm.

His pleasure sharply crested and then broke without any sort of warning. His orgasm rushed through him at the same time he began ejaculating, a first for them considering he usually began ejaculating seconds after his orgasm hit him.

Rose grinned, looking satisfied, as if she knew what was going on. He struggled to focus on her, but he simply couldn’t. Eyes closing, he rode out the rest of his orgasm and then slumped back onto the bed. Rose collapsed on top of him and he held her loosely, which was all he could do at the moment.

“That was brilliant,” she breathed. “Need to do that more often.”

He hummed and felt her lips softly press against his. He licked her top lip and, getting back a little of his energy, slowly dragged his hand along her spine to her shoulder. Rose’s tongue dipped into his mouth and he nipped it before following it back into her mouth, taking his time to relish the taste of her mouth, the feel of her tongue on his, and the absolute heat of her. She finally pulled her head back, slid off his lap, and settled against his side with a happy hum.

“I’m so glad I got you back again, Rose.”

“Me, too. Love you.”

His lips fitted themselves into a joyful smile.

“Quite right, too.” She slapped him a bit too hard to be playful and he chuckled. “I’m sorry. I’m just messing with you. I do, Rose, truly, honestly do-”

Her phone began ringing and Rose groaned exasperatedly. He reached his arm out, snagged the cell from her bedside table, and frowned at the number.

“Who is it?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “I’ve never seen this one before and it’s not one of your contacts.”

“Well, it could be Jenny. Answer it.”

Shrugging, he answered the call and held the phone to his ear.

“This is the Doctor.”

A man cleared his throat and his eyes narrowed.

“Hello, sir,” the man began nervously, “this is Bryonn Bellus. I, uh, I’m calling to invite you to dinner. Jenny informed me you wished to meet me and I’ve actually been wanting to meet you for years now. We’ve been cooking for hours and I guess I got carried away, because Jenny had to remind me we hadn’t actually invited you yet. So, uh, um, here I am offering a formal invitation, sir. Will you please join us for dinner?”

“We’ve already eaten,” he replied flatly. Rose shifted and frowned at him.

“Who is it?”

“Oh, well that’s… Yeah, he said they’ve already eaten.”

“Doctor?” Rose took the phone from him. “Hello? Oh, this must be Bryonn! Hello. I’m – Well, not yet, but I will be. She said that?” Rose smiled widely at him and he automatically returned it, wondering what she’d just heard. “No, we haven’t. He’s just being stubborn. Don’t tell Jenny I said that. She would be upset if – You’re a sweetheart. I like him already.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t.”

“Oh, hush. No, not you, Bryonn. Yes, we’d be delighted to come. Should we bring a dessert or a bottle of – Oh, but it’s the least we could do if you’ve been slaving away for – Yes, I’m sure she did, but I think we both know she _cannot_ cook, Bryonn.” Rose glanced at him, arched a brow, and sat up. “I’m sure I could convince him, yes. We’ll see you later. Yes, I promise. Goodbye to you, too.”

Rose ended the call and looked at him levelly. He squirmed.

“I don’t want to and you can’t make me.”

“Doctor, you’ve already told me you want to meet him. It’s a free meal you didn’t even have to cook and it has the added benefit of giving you a while to be able to size him up in person.”

“He defiled my daughter. That’s all I need to know.”

“Actually, your daughter -” He slapped his hands over his ears and began singing ‘la la la’ at the top of his lungs. He caught Rose clutching her belly and laughing at him. She was mouthing something at him and he stopped singing and slowly, distrustfully lowered his hands. “I’m sorry, Doctor, but if you’re determined to blame someone for the way their relationship turned out, you need to keep in mind that you can’t blame just him. It isn’t fair because you know Jenny wouldn’t have done anything if she didn’t want to.”

Feeling sick to both of his tummies, he stretched out on his back and grimaced at the ceiling.

“I just don’t like it.”

“Of course you don’t. You’re her daddy, but she’s also gonna be someone’s mummy someday. Please remember that. Er, I mean if that’s what she wants. She might change her mind.”

“Oh, yeah. I heard her say she didn’t want children.”

His eldest didn’t want to give him grandchildren. He disliked that about as much as he disliked the idea of her being involved with that Bryonn character. Rose giggled and he looked at her questioningly.

“Honey, you can’t be grumpy about both of those. It just doesn’t make sense.”

“Yes, it does,” he argued and then avoided her gaze because he knew she was right. “She’s my eldest child and doesn’t want to give me – No, us! – She doesn’t want to give us grandchildren, Rose. That’s terrible.”

“Doctor,” she said gently, “you do know how children are made, right?” He stared at her and her lips twitched. “If you want grandchildren someday, you’re gonna have to face the fact she’s an adult. You don’t have to like it, but you do have to stop being rude to the man she might want to have those children with.”

His lip curled, but he had to admit the woman was right.

“I refuse to be nice to him just ‘cause he’s dating Jenny and you can’t make me.”

“I bet I could, actually, but I’m not gonna try. Will you at least promise to give him a chance – a fair one – before you decide you don’t like him? Do it for me?”

“Why for you? What does Jenny being with the human have to do with you?”

“Well, I want grandchildren, too, and it’s gonna take Betty years and years to be old enough to have her own.”

“She’s not even been conceived yet,” he said in horror. “You stop planning her future right this second, Rose Marion.”

Rose giggled at him. “You’re ridiculous. Seriously, though, please promise me, Doctor.”

“Fine,” he grumbled, “but if I find one thing I don’t like, that’s it. I don’t like _him_.”

“Good enough. Now how about we have one more go and a shower before we head off to Bryonn’s?”

He perked up. “I think that sounds like a very good idea.”

“I want you on top this time.”

She gave him a naughty look and he groaned as he rolled onto her and began kissing down her body. This woman was going to spoil him rotten, he was sure of it.

Lucky him.

***

“Welcome, Dad,” Bryonn greeted, “Welcome, Mum.”

Rose positively beamed at the presumptuous, little twerp, but he couldn’t muster more than a disgusted glower. How dare he call them Dad and Mum?

“I told him to do that,” Jenny whispered to Rose as she, too, passed out hugs. “He seemed to be really cool with it.”

“Why?” he groused. “You’re not married yet so he shouldn’t be comfortable taking any liberties when addressing us.”

Both of his girls ignored him and Bryonn didn’t seem to have heard. He’d speak louder next time.

“I’m glad he is,” Rose whispered back and then leaned away to take a big sniff. “Something smells delightful. Bryonn, Jenny never said you could cook quite this well.”

“It’s nothing fancy,” he replied modestly, “and Jenny picked out the menu. I didn’t know what you’d like.”

“Is that roast?” Rose moved further into the sitting room and peeked towards the kitchen door. “Smells like it.”

“Yes, ma’am, it is. Jenny thought you might like something more traditional.”

Well, at least he had manners and knew how to listen to his daughter. He’d give him points for those two things only. As far as his cooking went, it smelled unseasoned and slightly raw.

“Doctor, come on,” Rose urged, unbuttoning her coat. “At least take your coat off.”

Oh! Where were _his_ manners? He darted forward and quickly took over the task of removing Rose’s coat. With a welcoming smile that looked entirely fake in his opinion, Bryonn took Rose’s coat from his hand and then waited until he’d taken off his own (only, of course, after Rose had nudged him into action). When Bryonn left the room, probably to snoop through their pockets while they weren’t looking, Jenny turned to Rose with a brilliant smile.

“He’s great, is he?”

“I like ‘im, yeah. So far, he seems like a gentleman.”

“Where’s the mutt?” he asked roughly, looking anywhere but at the two women staring at him expectantly. Jenny huffed.

“He’s not a mutt, Dad, and Bryonn thought you’d prefer it if we put him up for dinnertime.”

“See, honey, _he’s_ being polite.”

He didn’t think Rose’s statement needed to be quite that pointed. He hadn’t called the boy any names yet, had he? He noticed the boy return and was rather impressed he managed to keep his lip from curling in displeasure.

“Oh,” Rose gasped. “Doctor, where did you put the wine?”

Bryonn smiled uncertainly. “I did say you didn’t need to bring anything, didn’t I?” The Doctor’s eyes narrowed. What, now they couldn’t bring anything to dinner? Bryonn looked at Jenny. “I didn’t imagine that, did I, babe?”

His eye began twitching and wouldn’t stop. Mickey had once delighted in calling Rose the same thing.

“No, you said, but she probably ignored you. I would’ve.”

“Doctor,” Rose hissed. “Stop it. Where’s the wine?”

“I can’t,” he hissed back. “He called her babe.”

He retrieved the wine bottle from his jacket pocket and Bryonn’s eyes widened in surprise. The idiot. Yes, his pockets were bigger on the inside. Let’s all stare at each other like brainless twits, shall we?

“Why don’t you two go get this chilled for supper?” Rose suggested. “I just wanted to ask your father-”

“Jenny’s father,” he said pointedly. He met Bryonn’s eyes and held his gaze until Rose literally dragged him back outside. “Rose, no, you’ll get cold. Let me get your coat.”

“You promised you’d give him a chance and he hasn’t done anything for you to dislike. He’s been an absolute gentleman since we arrived, Doctor. Will you please try to imagine you’re him for a second? He’s probably terrified you’ll hate him.”

“I’m sure he’d deserve it.”

“Do you ever want grandchildren?” He stared at her, conflicted, and she sighed. “He’s not done anything you’d disapprove of. At all. He’s been more of a gentleman than Corin was when he was trying to convince Mum to give us her blessing. Okay? Please give him a break and, if that’s going to be a problem, try to remember he took care of Jenny when she didn’t have you.”

That hurt.

“You’re right. That sod took better care of her than I did and I’m her own damned father.”

“Don’t go getting sad on me, Time Lord. I’m merely pointing out he wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t have good intentions for Jenny, alright?”

Rose did have a good point, even if hearing it made him grit his teeth.

“Alright,” he ground out, “I promise I’ll try to behave from now on, but if he calls me Dad again-”

“You can politely inform him you’d prefer Doctor until they’re married.”

“Right,” he agreed sulkily. “That’s what I was going to say.”

Rose pressed a lingering kiss to his lips and sighed as she pulled away.

“I know you hate this, honey, but this is for Jenny and you know how she feels about him.”

Right. She was in love with the boy.

“I know. Let’s go back in before I change my mind.”

“You know,” Rose said casually while leaning against the door, “if you behave the rest of the night, I’ll let you decide what we do before I go to bed tonight.”

He straightened with an eager grin.

“It’ll be my choice?”

“Yep, but only if you behave.”

“Oh, I can behave, Rose. I just didn’t want to before. I have extra incentive now.” Well, if he added Rose’s bribe to the whole Bryonn taking care of Jenny thing… “Extra extra incentive, I mean. You won’t go back on your promise?”

“I won’t if you don’t.”

“Goody,” he enthused and then his grin fell away. “No, ew, don’t like it.” He looked away a moment, sneered, and then looked back to Rose. “Anyway, let’s get back inside before you freeze.”

Rose led him back into the house and the Doctor took a steadying breath. He could behave. He would behave. He _had_ to behave. He followed her to the kitchen, his eyes watching her swaying bum, and nearly walked into her back when Rose stopped walking.

“Oof,” he muttered, catching himself almost too late. “Sorry. Wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

Glancing up, he saw Jenny was giving him a look and Bryonn was pointedly staring at the wall. Had they caught him staring at Rose’s bum?

“Really, Dad?” Jenny huffed. “It’s one thing staring at her bum, but it’s another being so entranced with it, you nearly run her over.”

He flushed and Rose cleared her throat.

“Jenny,” Rose warned. “Last time I interfere. Next time, I won’t stop him from hitting the ball back into your court.”

Jenny paled. “Never mind. I didn’t say anything.”

Alright, yes, that was pretty funny. He quietly chuckled and watched Bryonn reach over Jenny’s head to grab a stack of plates from a cabinet.

“Could you get the glasses, babe?”

“Sure,” Jenny replied brightly. “Wine and water or just the wine?”

“We should probably do both. I know you don’t really drink too much with dinner. Besides, I don’t want your dad to think all we do is drink.”

Jenny smiled at him and blew him a kiss before turning to pull out the glasses she’d mentioned. When he felt Rose’s hand curl around his own, he relaxed and forced out a slow, quiet breath.

“Anything we can help with?” Rose asked. “I feel useless just standing around.”

“Oh, no, ma’am. Everything’s already done. You two can go sit down if you want. We can bring everything out. The dining area’s through that door.”

“If you’re sure…” Bryonn smiled encouragingly and Rose led him out of the kitchen. “Oh, this is nicer than I thought it would be,” she said in a quiet voice. “I’ve seen houses like this with smaller dining areas.”

“It’ll do, I guess.” Rose rolled her eyes and he noted the slight irritation lurking beneath. Uh oh. He’d better stop now before it was too late. He cleared his throat and sat down beside her. “He doesn’t seem like a complete imbecile.”

She smiled, seeming pleasantly surprised.

“I’m surprised you could admit that.” He shrugged and Rose’s smile widened. “Jenny told me he was studying to be an attorney. He was interested in pro bono work.”

“Well, that’s… noble.”

“I think so, yeah.”

“So how old is he? Can’t be too old if he’s still in university.”

“He’s thirty-something, I think.”

“And he’s still in school?”

“Doctor, he’s back in school. He finished school at a pretty young age and went to work for some academy, but he isn’t happy there. Jenny convinced him to go back to uni.”

“So he isn’t actually brainless?”

“No, he’s not.”

“Hmm. Suppose that’s good. How is he getting himself through school a second time? Does he come from money or is he working for it?”

“He’s working two jobs right now,” Jenny stated, entering the room. He hadn’t known she was listening. “One at the academy and the other as an assistant to a partner in the law firm he’s interested in.”

“Hmm.”

Bryonn entered the room with a large tray of serving dishes, held it steady while Jenny placed the dishes in the center of the table, and then went back to the kitchen.

“This smells lovely, Jenny. I bet it’ll be delicious.”

“I think it will. Bryonn’s really good at cooking. I never really got a chance to try anything.”

He caught Jenny’s attention with a mere look. “He cooked for you during your previous relationship? You never did?”

“Yeah, Jenny doesn’t know how to cook,” Bryonn said and then appeared with two stacks of plates. “I tried teaching her, sir, but she never retained any of it. I didn’t care if she could or not so I never really pushed it. I was happy just having her around.”

Rose gave him a sweet smile and he sighed when she turned that smile on Bryonn.

“So what are your intentions for Jenny?”

Even he looked at Rose in surprise. He hadn’t been expecting to ever hear her ask such a thing.

Cheeks flushed, Jenny quickly excused herself and rushed up the stairs. He heard a door close with a quiet snick and then looked between Rose and Bryonn in interest, his expression curious and calm. Bryonn nervously cleared his throat.

“Well, um, ma’am, I hope she’ll marry me one day. I’ve, er, asked a few times.”

He opened his mouth to comment, but Rose held up a hand and he wondered what was about to come out of _her_ mouth.

“I think we both know what Jenny’s like and what would and wouldn’t make her happy, Bryonn. Be frank with me. What exactly do you want from her?”

He actually felt bad for him. He’d been wrong. Rose’s maternal instincts were on point. He’d hate to be the one on the receiving end of this little thing. The poor guy compulsively swallowed and glanced towards the stairs.

“A life together, a home, a family. The usual.”

“Would you insist upon a certain number of children? If she only wanted one, would you be alright with that?”

“I wouldn’t care if we only ever had one and it was adopted,” he replied earnestly, “or was just a pet. Long as it was ours, I’d be happy.”

Eyes narrowed thoughtfully, Rose nodded.

“What if she didn’t want to live here on Earth? Better, what if she didn’t want to stay in one place?”

Good God, even he was squirming. Rose was frightening as a mother. Bravo, Rose.

“Honestly, we could spend our lives living on Mars and vacationing on the moon if that’s what she wanted.”

He just stared at him a moment. Neither of those places offered ideal living conditions, but he’d promised Rose he’d behave so he wouldn’t point out how stupid his statement was. Plus, he felt bad enough about Rose staring him down like that; he wouldn’t add his own bit to the mix.

“You know Jenny is just like her father,” Rose pushed. “She loves traveling. I don’t think she could stay in one place and not resent you for it.”

“We could live on her ship, then. We could travel the universe for all I care. As long as we’re…”

He let out a sigh and looked at the stairs again.

“Jenny told me what you wanted from her before, Bryonn. Did you change your mind?”

He could see the sweat beading up on the poor boy’s forehead. He’d have to remember Rose was an excellent interrogator the next time they had to meet another boyfriend, girlfriend, other, or undecided.

“When she left me, I spent a lot of time thinking about what was really important. You think you want what everyone else wants simply because it’s normal to want those things, because everyone else is doing it, but Jenny isn’t even human. Our relationship is far more different than the relationships of anyone I know so why should I try to shove those ideals onto a relationship we share?”

Rose arched her brows. “And?”

“And I realized I’d never sat down and thought about what exactly I wanted from her.” Rose continued staring at him and Bryonn started pacing. He seemed to be the only one who saw Jenny appear at the top of the stairs. “Losing her hurt worse than anything I’ve ever experienced.”

Jenny’s eyes stayed on Bryonn and he was just quick enough to see Rose’s eyes dart to Jenny before returning to Bryonn. How had she known Jenny was there?

“So one last time, Bryonn, what do you want from my daughter?”

He smiled cheerfully, Jenny straightened in happy surprise, and Bryonn dropped his eyes to the floor, took a deep breath, and then nodded.

“It doesn’t matter if she never has my children. We can adopt or get a thousand puppies or – or – I don’t know – just only ever have Toby. I’d live wherever she wanted me to if it’d make her happy. I don’t care what we do in the future, how many children we have, how many places we travel to, how many scars I get from trying to protect her. I just want her however I can have her and I hope that means she’ll be my wife someday but if not, if I can just be by her side…”

He shrugged, Jenny let out a choked sob, and they all looked back up to her. Looking pleased, Rose leaned against his side, he wrapped his arm around her to keep her from tipping out of her chair, and they watched Jenny and Bryonn make eye contact.

“Did you really mean all that?”

“What all did you hear?”

“Why don’t you two go talk?” Rose asked. “We can wait to eat.”

“No, please begin,” Bryonn insisted. “We’ll return shortly.”

He watched Bryonn climb the stairs and then disappear behind his daughter.

“How did you know she was listening?”

Rose smiled at him. “Because I did the same thing.”

He gave her a fond smile, kissed her forehead, and sat back in his seat. She scooted her chair closer so she could curl into him.

“He doesn’t seem like he’s as much a sod as I originally thought.”

“I’m glad you think so.”

Rose absently straightened his tie and he swallowed thickly. He almost didn’t want to know the answer, but he had to ask.

“Think she’ll accept his proposal the next time he asks?”

“I do, yeah.” She glanced up. “You gonna be okay with that?”

“Well, he’s willing to risk accumulating some scars for her…”

“And he tried dying for her once.”

“…Guess I could be alright with him. Just as long as he doesn’t turn into an Adam. You remember that little worm?”

“If he ever turns into an Adam, I give you permission to slap some sense into him and do it hard, won’t ya? Jackie Tyler hard.”

“Aye, aye, Cap’n.” Smiling, he brushed her hair out of her face and she smiled up at him. “Do you know, my dear, you can be absolutely frightening sometimes?”

She giggled. “It’s a mum instinct, I guess. I don’t know. We only just found Jenny, but I guess knowing she’s gonna think of me as her mum someday…” Rose shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Just kicked in without your say so, huh?”

“I guess.” He grinned and Rose looked towards the stairs. “I hope they haven’t forgotten we’re here.”

“Nah, they’re coming.”

He could hear them, actually.

“I think you should,” Bryonn said. “You saw how happy she was when I called her mum and I’m not even her son, Jen.”

Ah. He’d wondered why Jenny had loved that nickname enough to convince Rose it was okay that she used it.

“Yeah,” Jenny agreed thoughtfully. “I mean, you know I don’t actually have a mum. It was just my dad who created me.”

“Mhmm.”

“That doesn’t bother you, does it?”

“Jenny, you wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t been created in that machine and that’s an unbearable thought.”

Well, hell. That was a damned good answer. Good boy, Bryonn. He actually approved.

“She’s the closest thing I’ll ever have to a mum.” He could hear the smile in her voice. “Probably wouldn’t hurt to let her know, right?”

“Not at all, Jenny. She’ll love it, I bet.” They appeared at the top of the stairs and Rose immediately looked back up there with a smile. “Sorry that took so long. You didn’t have to wait for us.”

“We didn’t mind,” he replied. Rose looked at him in total shock and he smiled at her. “I’ll explain later,” he whispered and she nodded. “Everything settled?”

Jenny grinned happily. “Yeah.”

When she got to the table, Jenny pulled a chair around the side and sat right beside Rose. Bryonn sat at the end of the table and their hands automatically linked together. Rose, like him, noticed, but neither of them commented upon it.

“I hope you don’t think this is rude,” Rose spoke as they began scooping food onto their plates, “but I was going to ask if you’d mind terribly staying here tonight, Jenny. It’s just… your father and I haven’t seen each other in a while and I know we’d appreciate some alone time. We haven’t been able to discuss anything yet, most especially the wedding. I think you know why.”

Her explanation was noticeably transparent – even he knew she was asking so Jenny didn’t have to be the one to do so. He was fully planning to ignore that, however, in exactly two seconds.

“Um, sure, yeah. We probably need to start making plans, anyway.”

“Plans?” Rose asked curiously. She looked like she knew exactly what Jenny meant; she merely wanted to hear her to say it. Meanwhile, he’d be happy not thinking about that, either. He’d just gotten his head around the idea of Bryonn existing in Jenny’s life. It’d take a while for anything else.

“The wedding, I mean,” Jenny clarified. “You said Bryonn couldn’t live onboard without us being married first.”

“Huh. I did say that. Well, seems you do have some plans to make.”

Bryonn grinned and looked at Jenny.

“We’ll start as soon as you leave, I promise.”

“I’m sure you will. Doctor, honey, eat before your food gets cold. We don’t want to take up their entire evening, do we?”

He thought about giving Bryonn some sort of warning, perhaps that he better sleep in a different room or something, but he dismissed the instinct. The man did love their daughter. He couldn’t have faked his earlier declarations. They were too real, too heartfelt. Plus, he was sure Rose had scared him enough earlier.

He just wouldn’t think about it. Seemed easiest.

“You’re right,” he said to Rose. “Besides, I’ve just had an idea for our own wedding and I’d like to discuss that before you get all sleepy and human.”

“Sort of human,” Jenny corrected, “but still all sleepy.”

Rose chuckled and winked at Bryonn, who looked curious.

“Someday, Bryonn, you’ll learn the whole of it. Now eat. Incidentally, with you soon to be living onboard, I am curious about something.”

Bryonn lowered his fork and cocked his head.

“About what?”

Rose grinned. “How fast can you run?” Jenny started giggling, fueling his own laughter. Bryonn looked confused and Rose chuckled. “Jenny is a bit of a troublemaker. When her father and I found her, she was being chased by an entire village of people.”

“It was an accident,” Jenny insisted. “I really didn’t mean to.”

“I know you didn’t, sweetheart, but it happened all the same.”

Bryonn grinned good-naturedly. “Seems I’ll have my hands full keeping her out of trouble.”

“We’ll be there to lend the occasional hand,” Rose promised, “but yeah, you will.”

“Welcome to life amongst the aliens, Bryonn.”

“Well, you’re not all aliens, right? I know Jenny and you aren’t from Earth, but Rose is sort of human, whatever that means, so she came from Earth, right?”

“You’re right in the strictest sense. She is sort of human, but she’s also not completely.”

“There’s just one of my people,” Rose joked and then snorted. “That’s gonna be fun saying. I’m getting used to it already.”

“You are ridiculous and adorable and I can’t imagine you being any other way.”

She smiled widely. “I knew you loved me.”

He grinned at her and it hit him that she honestly had no idea how much he loved her, because he’d never actually gotten the words out. He was always interrupted before he could.

Well, that was going to change as soon as they were alone.

***

“Rose, I…”

Rose looked up curiously; he trailed off, held up a finger, and finished getting them into the vortex. He didn’t want to be distracted when he told her this time. He was about to speak again when Rose sauntered up and ran her finger down his tie.

“So, Doctor, we’ve got the TARDIS to ourselves again and you behaved yourself tonight.”

“I love you!” Rose blinked at him in surprise and he snorted. “Okay, sorry. I didn’t mean to yell that in your face. I just wanted to get it out before I was interrupted yet again. I never seem to have enough time to say it.”

Rose chuckled. “I’m happy you finally said it, honey, but I already knew. Actions speak louder than words.”

He huffed. “Way to ruin the moment, Rose. I just told you I love you for the first time and you just, ‘oh, I already knew, bleh.’”

“Bleh? I don’t think I actually said that,” she teased.

“You know what I meant.”

“Fine. Rewind.”

He grinned and tried adopting the same expression he’d been wearing before. Rose put her index finger back on the bottom of his tie and looked up into his face.

“I love you,” he repeated, voice soft. Rose smiled at him.

“Quite right to.”

“Rose,” he groaned. “Come on!”

She giggled. “Sorry. One more time.”

“Okay.” He pushed out a deep breath, gave her a soft, sweet smile, and said, “I _love_ you, Rose.”

“I love you, too, Doctor.”

“And that’s how it should have happened.” He wrapped his arms around her back and ducked down to steal a kiss. “Thank you for the redo, Rose.”

“Oh, no, I’m still considering the yelled version the original. It’s more you. You would naturally yell it at me the first time you said it.”

“So we redid that for nothing?”

“I wouldn’t say it was for nothing,” Rose disagreed. “After all, you again told me you love me and then you kissed me, which reminds me of what I was saying earlier. We have the TARDIS to ourselves again and you behaved remarkably well after you promised you would.”

“We most certainly do and I definitely did. Are you still going to uphold your promise?”

“Oh, yeah. I can’t wait to hear what you’ve come up with.”

The Doctor grinned widely and pressed her against the jump seat. His hand slipped between their bodies and he ran delicate fingers between her legs.

“I want to use my mouth on you…” He leaned forward and nipped her neck. “While you use yours on me.”

“Ooh, really?” He nodded, his lips brushing her pulse point, and Rose shivered. “I’m in. I am so in. I call top.”

He shrugged. “I wanted you on top, too, so that’s fine with me.”

“This is going to be bloody brilliant.” Rose pushed him away and ducked out of his arms. “Race you to the bedroom.”

She took off and, surprised, it took him a second to chase after her. She was _perfect_. He would never stop thinking that.

***

Rose’s head was at the other end of the bed so he couldn’t see her and her hand was at the wrong angle for him to hold. He settled for kissing her calf and then flopping a boneless arm over her leg.

“You were right. That was bloody brilliant.”

“Yeah, it was. We’re doing that again. At least twice a week for the rest of eternity… if not more.”

“Mm.” Her taste lingered in his mouth, on his lips and he smiled contentedly. “While we’re lying here regaining the will to move, we should discuss our wedding.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Um, what season are you thinking?”

“I’m not picky, my dear. Whatever will make you happy is fine with me.”

“Okay, what planet?”

“Which do you want?”

“You can’t just leave everything to me. Corin tried to do the same thing and I’m not having it this time, either.”

“Fine,” he laughed. “How about Earth? I like Earth well enough, it’s your home planet, your friends are there, our future son-in-law’s there. We could choose any season and any place to get married and we wouldn’t have to worry about arranging guest transportation to a different planet. I mean, we’d have to pick up Bryonn, but that’s easy.”

“I like it. Thank you for not fighting me about this.”

“Welcome, Rose, but do bear in mind I have literally no preferences for season or location. I’ll be happy with whatever.”

She sighed. “Suppose you’re not lying about that.”

“Nope.”

“Alright. You’re wearing a tux.”

He grinned. “Fun. What do you want to wear?”

“I’m not sure. I had a full gown last time, but I think I want an outdoor wedding, which sort of means warmer weather and I don’t want to get too hot. Then again, I think Jenny wants to get married outside, too, so I don’t know. Jenny wants to wear a dress, by the way.”

“I might have known.”

She apparently misunderstood his meaning (that he’d known already) because she laughed.

“She can wield a gun or knife, Doctor, but she’s still a girl and she loves dresses. It shouldn’t be too surprising.”

“Nah, suppose not.” Perhaps it was best she didn’t know he’d been eavesdropping, anyway. “What color do you want her in?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t thought about the wedding much. I’ll have to make sure I don’t accidentally do anything Jenny wanted to do for her own wedding.”

“Ick. Not thinking about that.” Rose snorted and he rubbed a hand on her leg. “Suppose we’ll have to plan something soon-ish, huh?”

“Well, I guess, but we do have some time.”

“We don’t have to wait.”

Her head tilted up from the bed. “Do you not want to?”

“Not particularly, no. Why wait? We’re going to be married before you get pregnant and it seems just as easy to do the ceremony now as it is to do it later.” She gave him a knowing smile and he shrugged. “There’s also Jenny.”

“I’d wondered if you would bring her up.”

“I have to set a good example, Rose, and being intimate with you without being married – Oh, that’s – I swear that’s not the only reason I…”

Rose chuckled. “I know, sweetie, but it was funny seeing you make that face.”

“Okay, good,” he sighed. “So, um, lots to discuss and plan, then.”

“Seems like it.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too. Now we should probably get up and shower so I can get some sleep. Morning will be here before we know it and then Jenny’ll be calling to come home. Probably.”

“I know.” The Doctor groaned. “For the rest of our lives, there will always be some child or grandchild or great-grandchild to worry about.”

“I know. Isn’t it great?”

He grinned happily. “The best. Wait. Wait, no. Rose, once we start having children, we’re never going to be alone ever again. Ever, Rose. No privacy whatsoever. For the rest of eternity.”

“Eh, the more we have, the more children there will be to distract the others.” The Doctor thought about that a moment and conceded she did have a good point (and the idea of having that many children with her made his tummies flip around in excitement). “Now are you done fretting?”

“Maybe.” He sighed and then a loud laughter escaped him. “I’ve just realized something and I can’t believe it isn’t sickening me.”

“What?”

“Unless you and I have for some reason have another child via machine, Jenny is the one who’s going to have twins one day.”

There was a beat of silence and then Rose started giggling.

“Oh, my God! Lacadia. I’d forgotten about that trip! The boys caught you trying to touch my bum.”

“I maintain I did nothing wrong that you can prove.” She kept giggling and an overwhelming sense of affection settled in his chest. “Now I know why you seemed so shaken when you returned to me that day. I thought I was just that devastatingly handsome in the future, but it was because I looked exactly the same, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. That’s what I was thinking about when I met the children. I should have suspected my own non-aging was related to how unchanged _you_ looked when I brought the boys to you.” He nodded and Rose sat up. “I thought something had changed when I got trapped the first time and then was left with Corin the second.”

“I did, too. Was actually thinking it before Abby showed up.” A small, amused sound sounded from the other end of the bed and the Doctor sighed. “Oh, Rose, I am so happy you’re here.”

“I am, too. Now seriously, enough of that. We need a shower and then sleep. I have a feeling Jenny’s gonna wanna come home early so we can discuss everything she and Bryonn talked about tonight.”

He groaned. “The rest of our lives, Rose.”

She chuckled. “Yeah, the rest of our lives, Doctor.”

Alright, that sounded pretty damn good.

***

After exiting out of several opened windows on the monitor, the Doctor sighed in relief. He could sense several things rearranging and closing up on the ship and it set his mind at ease. Satisfied the TARDIS was baby-proofing herself to his specifications, the Doctor rolled his neck side to side and patted the console in gratitude. He’d have to remember to add Rose to the list of people allowed to enter those closed rooms, but he could do that later.

At least that was taken care of. It was one less thing he and Rose would have to worry about. Thinking of Rose – was that her coming this way or had Jenny finally figured out how to walk down the corridors without sounding like an actual elephant?

Oh, nope, there came Jenny now, too. Making a mental note to check whatever she’d just knocked over wasn’t in pieces as he suspected it was, another sigh, this one exasperated, escaped him as he turned to the doorway he could tell Rose and Jenny would be using to enter the control room. He gave Rose a soft smile and the question he was going to ask his daughter regarding that suspicious shattering noise died on his tongue when he noticed their expressions.

Jenny looked nervous and he could have explained that away by whatever she’d knocked over and likely broke, but Rose’s expression was much too sweet and comforting to be much comfort at all. What was going on? Why was he suddenly getting the feeling that whatever he was about to hear was not going to be good at all? Oh, God. He peeked at Jenny's tummy and gulped. Please don’t let her be pregnant. He could handle most news but not that, not now.

“Calm down, sweetie,” Rose said as she grabbed his hands with her own and squeezed. “Nobody’s pregnant.”

He finally breathed. Oh, right. _When_ had he stopped breathing?

“Right,” he squeaked (he’d deny that under oath if anyone ever said anything about it). “Then why does my daughter look like she has bad news for me? I'm assuming you already know whatever it is.”

“I do since I'm the one who told her to do it.”

“Ah. That sets my mind at ease.” He sighed. “Can’t be bad, then.”

Jenny laughed anxiously and his tummies knotted back up.

“Maybe you should sit down, Doctor,” Rose coached. “We both have something to discuss and I think you would be most comfortable…” She backed him into the jumpseat and pushed until he settled down. “Here. Jenny, like a plaster. Just pull it off. It’ll hurt worse if you try to take your time.”

“Right.”

Rose gave her a look. “Now, Jenny. I meant do it now.”

“Rose won’t let Bryonn move into the TARDIS unless we’re married so we’re getting married tomorrow ‘cause I don’t wanna wait,” Jenny blurted in one breath. His lungs felt tight and he felt his bypass struggling to kick in. He realized he must be hurting Rose’s hands with how tightly he was holding them so he made a concerted effort to loosen his grip. He felt he wasn’t successful if Rose’s understanding smile was anything to go by. “So that’s that. Rose?”

“Rose?” he echoed.

“Remember that we like Bryonn, Doctor. He’s a good man and we both agreed we liked him.”

“We did,” he breathed. “ _Did_.”

“Do,” Rose corrected. “You knew this was going to happen, sweetie. I – No, _we_ have a rule about there needing to be a wedding before anybody moves onto this ship. Also, there’s that one thing… Remember Lacadia?”

He perfectly pictured the twins that Jenny (and, he supposed, Bryonn) would one day have and inhaled sharply before slowly exhaling. He stared at Rose for several long seconds, closed his eyes, and then nodded. She was right. He’d known this was coming for a while now.

“What do I do?”

Rose smiled and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.

“We need to make a few stops. We need to let people know in advance when the wedding is so they’ll show up tomorrow and then we have to pick up a dress for Jenny. I think the rest we can handle from here. Once you’ve dropped us off to find a dress, I want you to find your tux and set it out. That’s all.”

“Stop to tell people about the wedding, drop you two off for a dress, find my tux.”

“Yes.”

“That’s all?”

“For today. Tomorrow, she wants her daddy to give her away.”

“I knew that,” he whispered. “I think I can handle all of that.”

“I know you can. Focus on the small things and you'll be fine.”

“Right,” he agreed. “Stop one?”

“Jack's and then Bryonn's. We have to call everyone Jenny and I think should be there.”

“Alright. Good. Focus on the small things. Got it. And you're sure it has to be tomorrow?” he asked Jenny. “Rose's movies always made it seem like a wedding took a long time to plan.”

“I don't need it to be fancy, Dad. I just want me in a nice dress with some pretty flowers, Bryonn in a tuxedo, and our friends plus whoever else Rose thinks should be there.”

He looked at Rose. “But decorations, Rose, and food and-”

“She wants something simple, honey, and she doesn't want to wait to plan the type of wedding she doesn't actually want. She wants simple, not an extravagant event.”

“But food? And what is she going to do about decorations and-”

“It's just gonna be a few people, Dad, and Rose already said she'd cook everybody dinner if they wanna stick around after. Also, I don't need or want decorations.”

“How many people are we talking?” He glanced at Rose again. “You're willing to cook for however many people she's inviting? Rose, we can't-”

Rose gave him a hard kiss and then pulled back to look at him. He'd forgotten where he was going with his last statement.

“Honey, focus on the small things. Stop one, stop two, stop three, your tux. Let us handle the rest. It's going to be fine. You're freaking out for no reason. Jenny will get the wedding she wants and we will be there to see her enjoy it. Alright?” After looking at Jenny, he nodded at Rose and her beautiful smile made his tummies settle down again. Blimey, he loved her. “Now stop one. Okay?”

“Okay,” he repeated. “Jack's, right?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you,” he murmured as she followed him around the console. “I really did go from not wanting her to get married to wanting her to have everything, which she apparently didn't even want, didn't I? How did that happen?”

“You're a dad,” Rose chuckled. “You just want her to be happy.”

“And a small, simple wedding will make her happy?”

“It will. She's assured me several times she'd be happier if our wedding had all that fancy stuff. She just wants something simple and laid back. A long, lacy, white dress, Bryonn in a tuxedo, an orange and yellow bouquet, and no more than maybe twenty people.”

“That’s very, strangely plain, isn't it? It’s not at all what I envisioned for her. So why the dress and tuxedo?”

“She likes dresses, of course, and it’d be silly if he showed up in casual dress while she’s in an actual wedding dress.”

He chuckled despite the events that were currently unfolding around him. Well, event. _The_ event. The one he'd been dreading since the subject of Jenny's marriage first came up. Ugh. Silently, Rose placed a hand on the small of his back and he came to, nodded at her, and pulled a lever. How long had he just been standing there? When they landed, Rose pointedly nodded at the door and waited for Jenny to head out. He watched her leave and then looked back down at Rose, full of trepidation.

“What now?”

“Don't worry. There aren't any more surprises. Much. I was just gonna say if you can make it through today, I have a surprise planned for us tonight.”

“A naughty surprise?” He grinned, briefly forgetting about his daughter's impending nuptials. “Like what? Mutual mouth on mouth action? You on top? You, me, and the shower?”

“I was thinking more like me and those handcuffs I know Jack left behind.” He looked at her wide-eyed and she gave him a rather saucy once over. “Why, I'd be unable to stop you from doing whatever your two hearts so desire.”

His voice cracked when he tried to speak. After clearing his throat, he tried again.

“Really? Whatever I want?”

“How could I stop you if I'm cuffed to your bed?” Here, she paused and held her hands up, wrists together and a pout on her lips. “I'd be helpless.”

He grinned, already making plans. He really hoped she wasn't exhausted later because he fully planned to bring her to climax twice with just his mouth and his fingers doing that one thing he'd learned she absolutely could not resist any- Oh! And then they could have a proper shag!

Hell, he might even do all of that twice!

Thrice!

Okay, maybe not thrice. She had to sleep sometime, but he'd be damned if he didn't try doing all of that at least twice. Oohhh. In between the two double rounds of oral, he'd have plenty of time to recover his- And then they could- OH! Why had he never- He could find out for himself how many ways he could bring her to climax! He'd never been with a human before Rose, but he knew enough to know human women had _so_ many erogenous zones within and without their- He chuckled quite mischievously and made a mental note to do some research into that while Rose and Jenny were gone.

“You are in so much trouble,” he said gleefully. “You may never sleep again. I'm on a mission tonight.”

“I'm good with losing a few hours.” Rose stretched up to kiss his cheek and he turned his head to catch her lips when she started to pull back, something she finally succeeded in doing a few moments later. “I love you. Can't wait to get you naked later so that beast can come out to play.”

He let out a passable attempt at a wolf's howl and then grinned as she let out her own short howl before dissolving into giggles, her face pressed into his chest. His grin gentled into a fond smile and he chuckled.

“Get out of here, Rose. The sooner we get all this done, the sooner I can get you into our bed.”

She looked up. “You're feeding me first.”

“Oh, obviously. You're gonna need your strength. Trust me. I have plans.”

At this, Rose bestowed upon him frankly the cutest, most adorable, scrunchy-nosed smile he'd ever seen her make and was almost certain one of his hearts had melted into a puddle of goo in his chest. Ah, well. It'd grow back. Did last time he lost a heart, but if not, eh, worth it. After one more kiss, Rose bounced away from him.

“Try not to miss me too much.”

“Too late.”

“I'm not even out the door,” Rose pointed out, amusement in her tone.

“But are you in my personal space?” he asked pointedly. “No, you are not. Rude, Rose.”

“Yeah, yeah. Be good.”

He snorted. Never.

***

His daughter wasn't honeymooning on Faddoqa. She wasn't. She was in her room playing with the mutt and most definitely not taking advantage of the Faddoqan sensory rooms with the man she most definitely did not wed three hours ago in a surprisingly beautiful ceremony that did. not. happen.

Those sensory rooms might be nice to take Rose to, though. With their ability to change to whatever they’d want the room to be, they could appear to be shagging outside like bunnies and be safe in the comfort and privacy of their own rooms.

Which was something his daughter wasn't doing.

She was in her room down the hall. Rose _wasn’t_ distracting him from anything. They just chose to set up the nursery for no reason whatsoever. A sharp slap to his behind had him jerking in surprise, his thoughts pushed aside for now.

“You with me?”

“What?” he asked, confused. “What do you mean?”

“I've asked you three times now where we're gonna put the door leading to our room.”

“Oh, sorry. Stuck in my head.”

“Yeah, I got that. The door, sweetie. Where do we want it?”

“Hmm.” He looked around and pointed at one spot that called to him. “There.”

“Good with me. We'll put the changing table over here, then, and the crib on the other side of the room.”

“We might need a small room between us and the baby,” he mused as they were settling the crib against one wall. Rose looked at him curiously and he grinned. “To muffle the noise. Now that I know exactly which spots inside your body make you _scream_ through a climax, well, I won't be forgetting.”

Rose blushed prettily and he grinned.

“Last night _was_ fun. Shame I didn't get any sleep at all.”

“Oh, such a shame.” Grin becoming more pronounced, he leaned onto the bars of the crib and wiggled his brows. “Why don't we take a break and go do something that could put this nursery to good use, hmm?”

Rose laughed but then said something that took him by surprise.

“Yes, let's.”

“What, really?”

“Oh, yeah. We should keep trying until we change history. Wouldn't be the first time you decided to change the outcome of something, Time Lord...”

A surprised laugh escaped him and he straightened to his full height.

“Perfect, you are. I vote we try and try and try until I don't have any more tries left in me tonight.”

“Mm, yeah, that's happening. I can't wait to milk all of those tries outta you.”

“Lovely. Would you like a ride, m'lady?”

“Several, in fact.”

He grinned. “Saucy.”

Rose giggled and the Doctor soon straightened back up with her on his back. She wrapped an arm around his clavicle, kissed his temple, squeezed his sides with her legs, and then let out a clicking noise. Laughing, he headed to the door at a nice trot and heard Rose snickering to herself before pressing several loud kisses to any bit of skin she could find. Kicking up the pace, he entered the corridor and glanced at her from the corner of her eye.

“You know, I’d much rather be a wolf than a horse, Rose.”

“I’d much rather you be too busy to talk, but that’s just me, I guess.” He chuckled, pleased, and felt her hand caress his jaw. As he nibbled at the finger trying to slip between his lips, she said, “Though you do have a lovely voice, I can think of so many other things that can get me there a lot faster.”

In their room (ooh, shivers), the Doctor turned and dropped backwards onto the bed. He caught himself at the last second so he wouldn’t hurt Rose and smiled at her shriek of surprise.

She was in his lap three seconds later.

***

He had searched what felt like the entire bloody ship and he could find nobody. Not his Rose, not his daughter, not his… son-in-law. Grumble grumble.

While preferring not to delve too deep into the mystery of his daughter and her husband’s current whereabouts, for his own peace of mind, he was extremely curious to know what had happened to his Rose. He’d told her his work in the control room wouldn’t take long at all and she had still disappeared to who only knew where. Right. Hmm. He was going to grow old and die of boredom – in that order – before he found her again.

There was nothing for it.

Grinning, he cupped his hands around his mouth, took a deep breath, and let out a long, loud howl. A delighted laugh escaped him when he heard an answering howl from roughly two corridors away. He followed the sound of her wonderful laughter a corridor over, paused until he heard her let out another howl, this one briefly interrupted by her laughter, and then joined in on the howl himself.

When he found her, Rose was grinning widely and trying to laugh and howl at the same time, which wasn’t really working but he found adorable and arousing all at once.

“I love you,” he said with a laugh of his own. “It feels like I've been looking for you forever. What are you doing?”

“Working on some wedding plans. Better question is what do I wish I was doing.” She glanced at his trousers and batted her lashes as she looked back up. “And what have you been up to?”

“Looking for you, as I said. I told you that repair wouldn’t take me long.”

“Ah. You were telling me the truth this time. Shocking.” Rose picked up the pillow on her lap, tucked it between her and the arm of the sofa, and patted her thigh. “Get comfortable. You know nothing makes me happier than to see your head in my lap.”

“Could remove a few layers so I can make both of us happy. It has been almost four days, I think.”

Well, since he’d tasted her. It’d only been three hours since he’d caught her in the shower before breakfast.

“Believe me, I want to, but I'm trying to work on this wedding stuff. I finally got some answers out of you over dinner last night so I need to get it all down before I forget or get distracted by…” She trailed off as he pressed a kiss further down her thigh. “Honey, wedding stuff.”

“Oh, alright. Hold on.” The Doctor sat up and grabbed the notebook from her hand. “Alright. Witnesses? Don’t need ‘em because what paperwork is there to sign for an alien and his lady who doesn’t even live on Earth? So done. Decorations? In sections, I see. Fine. Flowers, you already know what you want.” He checked it off. “Candles, got ‘em. Room full of ‘em.” Check. “You can pick out what you like most. Food? We’re all pitching in and cooking since there are maybe twenty people coming to our wedding. Aisle runner? Bolts and bolts and bolts of fabric on the top floor of the wardrobe – everything from leather and velvet to lace and tulle. Wedding favors? Jenny’s mentioned an idea and wanted to talk to you herself. What else? Officiant of some sort? Jack. It’s not going to be a traditional English human wedding so we don’t have to worry about needing someone official. Pre-nup? Ha. Yeah, right. Rose, are you gonna leave me and take everything with you?”

She grinned. “No. Are you?”

“Hell no, I'm not, because I'm not a bloody masochistic fool. Alright. Continuing on. We don’t need to give notice, because I'm not even human and you don’t actually exist there anymore. They think you died at Canary Wharf, remember?”

“Oh, yeah. Hmm. Continue.”

“Thank you. What else? What else?” The Doctor clicked his tongue and made several checks on Rose’s list. “I have a tux. I would prefer you not wear any lingerie under your dress because I will 100% rip it to shreds our wedding night, but you’re of course welcome to wear whatever this surprise is that you wrote down. You know what dress you want to wear because you found it the day you took Jenny shopping for her own and yes, before you ask, I have avoided that dress bag like the plague itself… which I had nothing to do with.”

“Doctor,” Rose gasped. “You didn’t!”

“I might have foolishly tried to stop it in a younger body and ran into a reaper situation. Caused more bad than good, but I did save one little girl so there’s that. We don’t need to talk about that. Next. Vows? I'm writing my own. Have been for days now.” He shot her a small smile and continued checking. “We can figure out the honeymoon whenever. The entire universe is open to us. We could set the controls to random or go anywhere you want to go. I have literally no opinion, because wherever we end up going, we won’t see it, anyway, since I'm planning to have one of us flat on our backs the entire time. We might eat occasionally, but rarely will that happen. You have been warned. Hair and makeup? You said you wanted to do that yourself, anyway, so check. Invitations? Paper or word of mouth?”

“Whichever. We don’t have many people coming to our wedding, either, and we can always call closer to the date.”

“Then check. We’ll stop and tell everybody when we decide on a date. Mm. Two months from now.”

“For what?” Rose frowned. “Telling everyone our date?”

“No, _our_ wedding date. Marry me two months from now?”

“I thought we were gonna discuss that later.”

“I want to finish this so I can do unspeakable things with the love of my life. Two months?”

Rose slowly smiled. “Six weeks.”

“Done!” He pressed a heavy check into the notebook and nearly succeeded in ripping the paper. “Moving along. Cake? Chocolate, as we discussed.”

“I’ll get the real recipe from Bryonn. We can make it ourselves.”

“As you said, yes, perfect. Check. Seating chart?”

“Pfft. Let everybody pick a place and shut up about it. Pretty sure between Jenny and Jack, nobody’s going to have a chance to complain if they don’t like somebody, anyway.”

“Not that anyone who would bother coming to our wedding would care. I mean, once you’ve saved the world or universe a time or two with someone, it gets easier to get along.” Rose nodded and he crossed out the seating chart point. “We already chose our spot.”

“Yeah,” Rose said dreamily. “I'm so glad Jenny showed us Bryonn’s grandparents’ home.”

“I'm gladder they’ll let us use it for the wedding. So check that. Can use their frankly massive dining room if the weather turns ugly so check. We’re the only ones standing up for us so no wedding party – unless you’ve changed your mind?”

“Nah. Keisha would if I asked, but everyone else is pregnant, doesn’t know about you being an alien, or thinks I'm dead. Really narrows it down.”

“Gotcha. I have plenty of equipment we could set up for videos and photographs – literally an entire room – so check. We can pick our favorites and test them out at the spot later. Jewelry, shoes, so on and so – We need rings. I have rings. I can engrave those rings.” His eyes narrowed, plotting out what he wanted Rose’s ring to say. “We can look at everything when we pick out the aisle runner. So check, pretty much. Your accessories. The wardrobe is yours now, too, and I am so certain you’ll find the perfect shoes and what have you that I would lay down real money on a bet, Rose.”

“I know. That was a reminder to pick them out later.”

“Oh. Okay. Good. Check. I’ll remind you when we look at the fabric and rings. Now moving on. I would rather exchange gifts of a carnal nature than something I or, more likely, Jenny will end up breaking.”

“Same.”

“Good. Cross that out, then. I don’t need a rehearsal dinner. Do you?”

“Been there, done that.”

“Check, then. We can stop in at Jack’s at some point to run through our wording and everything, but I don’t think we need a rehearsal since it’s just us, right?”

“Nah, I'm walking up the aisle with you, anyway, and we’re just gonna do the simple wedding thing. Besides, I'm marrying my best friend and if I mess up somewhere, who’s gonna know or care?”

The Doctor briefly kissed her and then pulled the notebook closer again.

“Check off the rehearsal. Blech. Boring. Now what else? I'm picking up everyone and dropping them off at the site and then taking them home afterwards so hotels and transport is unnecessary. That’s gone. Music is something neither of us are going to want, except for one dance by ourselves on the TARDIS after everyone else has left.”

“Exactly.”

“Check. I have dozens of tables, several dozen chairs, all sorts of linens, silverware, tableware, etc. all around the ship. As long as you don’t care that they’re mismatched, we don’t have to worry about renting any of that.”

“Good. Check it off.”

“And check,” he said happily. “No vendors needed. Check. You approved the ceremony I asked about last night so check. Everybody’s eating the same thing so menu cards are a waste of time. Check. Right?”

“Okay. Check.”

“Good. We don’t have bridal parties and I’d much rather defile you than spend an entire evening drinking with people I don’t see on a daily basis, anyway, so… yeah, check. None of this applies. Check to the stag and hen dos. Check to the parties in general. Check to the gifts. Check to the outfits. You’re positive you don’t want a party? You’re not just saying that to make me happy?”

“No, I don’t. You’re good, sweetie. You know I’d say something if I felt differently.”

“Right. Good. Love you.”

“Love you, too. Keep going.”

“No wedding programs so check. No showers necessary. Check. I will never send thank you cards so um, check.” Rose snickered but didn’t argue so he kept going. “Guest book? I have a brown leather journal about the size of this notebook that we can use. Sound good?”

“Check.”

He grinned. “Check.” He carelessly scratched a check mark in the notebook and continued. “Veil I'm assuming you have or have an idea in mind for that.”

“Yep.”

“Check.”

Only a few more things left, then. The end was so close he could taste it. He started to rush through the rest.

“Guest list done. Check.”

“Is it done?”

“Everyone we discussed inviting is in my head. It’s on its own little list.”

“And you won’t forget. Check.”

“Perfect. Check. I like you just the way you are so don’t even think about going on a diet, because I’ll start shoving cake into your mouth while you sleep if you do. Check.” He heard Rose snicker but ignored her. “You didn’t feel the need to do engagement photos like Jenny did so check. Yes, I'm okay with it. We don’t need a gift registry. I have enough junk onboard, as we both agreed, so check.”

“Are you in a hurry?” Rose laughed. “You’re not even letting me answer anymore.”

“Yep. What else? Musicians? We didn’t want ‘em. Centerpieces? We didn’t want ‘em. Linens? Got ‘em. Signs? Don’t need ‘em. Check, check, check, check. No readings. Check. I’d rather have you than a garter in my mouth so check. Don’t need to worry about any of this because it pertains to the RSVPs and straggling responses. Check, check, and check. We don’t need save the date cards because time machine. Can just wait for someone to get dressed or pick them up a different day if they forget, though how dare they? Regardless, check.”

Now at the end of her list, the Doctor happily threw Rose’s pen and notebook over his shoulder and surged forward for a breathtaking snog.

***

Their first dance as husband and wife was magical.

The guests had long since been returned home and Jenny and Bryonn had gone off to bed for the evening, both claiming it had been a long day and they needed the sleep. Rose had looked magnificent all day, but this moment beat it all.

She was no longer wearing the makeup she’d carefully applied that morning, her hair had been washed clean of the styling products she’d put in it to keep her curls and veil in place, her wedding dress had been replaced with her old slightly threadbare, purple, cotton nightdress, and on her feet were the fuzzy slippers he’d unearthed in her old bedroom a few days ago.

She was a vision. She had never looked more stunning or captivating, he was sure.

As the soft instrumental music came to a close, he stopped guiding her around the control room of the TARDIS and pulled her into his arms so they could look out the door at the Earth spinning far below them.

“You know,” she said thoughtfully, “that used to be home.”

“Yeah, but then you met me.”

“That used to be the best day of my life.”

“I like the ‘used to’ there.”

“Thought you might.”

For a while, he simply held her and rubbed her arms when she randomly shivered. No idea what that was about. She didn’t seem cold. Hmm. Well, just in case… He held her tighter and tucked her bare arms between his own and her tummy. Eventually, he remembered how early she’d gotten up because Jenny had insisted they needed the whole day to prepare her (though – and he would _never_ admit this – she looked much better now in a nightdress with no makeup on and her hair loose).

“Come on, Rose. Let’s sleep tonight and then tomorrow, you and I are going somewhere gorgeous.”

“Sounds great, but before we sleep, there’s something I want to do.”

“You just took a shower.”

“Mhmm.”

The Doctor frowned at her. “We shagged this morning before Jenny started hammering at our door.”

“I know.”

“And again after we dropped everybody off. That was just half an hour ago, Rose. Surely the carnal stuff can wait until you’ve rested.”

Rose gave him a strange look and he frowned even more.

“Has it not hit you yet?”

“Has what not-” He paused as his mind abruptly but briefly tilted and spun, leaving echoey traces of a new addition to some rather recent memories once it was settled down once more. When it dawned on him what had changed, he started laughing happily, picked Rose up, and spun her in a circle. Two. No, three! “I wasn’t even trying in the shower! That had to have been when it happened, Rose. Fertilization won’t have started yet, but it’s going to. That’s why our memories have already changed, why our children’s ages are slightly different. We did it!”

“Ben,” she tested out. “I like that. Poor Betty’s not going to be the second oldest, after all.”

“I really think she’ll be okay. She won’t even know.” He gave her a joyful smile. “Sod everything. Let’s celebrate. I can shag you to sleep.”

“That’s exactly what I was hoping you’d say.” Rose grinned up at him and took one step back from him. “Well, what are you waiting for? Allons-y, husband.”

“Ooh. Race you to the bedroom, wife.”

She winked and then took off at a sprint. Laughing, feeling delirious, he followed behind and thanked every deity he could think of that he’d been offered one last chance for that future he’d been dreaming of since meeting their grandsons on Lacadia years ago. Hell, he’d throw Rose into that mix of deities, too, just to be thorough.

As he caught her up into his arms, a jubilant laugh escaped him and he just knew it wouldn’t be the last by any means.

His hearts were soaring. This life would never be the same.


	3. Epilogue

“And you’re sure you want to do this today?”

“If I have to be pregnant one more day, Doctor, I’m going to cut this baby out myself. I’m already two weeks late and I am beyond ready. Honestly should have done this sooner, but Gibby had a cold.” Rose gave him a tight smile. “Nobody’s sick right now so stick it in.”

“But today? Rose, it’s your birthday.”

“Either you stick that needle in my arm or I will.”

Fine, fine. Can’t argue with the woman. He’d learned that forever ago. He didn’t know why he still tried. Stubborn man, he was. The Doctor stepped back, laid the syringe on the table, and placed a bandage on Rose’s arm before pressing a kiss to the top of it.

“Happy now?”

“Ecstatic.”

“I’m glad. If past experience is anything to go by, that should take a while to kick in. Let’s go get everything ready so we don’t have to waste time doing it later.”

“Good idea. We should also give the children a snack just in case. It’s been a couple hours since they ate lunch.”

“No, that won’t be necessary. Remember? They con me into making-” The Doctor looked down and abruptly let out a laugh. “Oh, Lord, Rose. You’re never gonna believe this, but it’s time.”

“For… a snack?”

“Uh, no, sweetheart. To start sending the children off. Your water just broke… all over my shoes. Guess we didn’t need to give you that shot, after all.”

“Ahh. I feel that now. Blimey.” Rose laughed in delight. “Oh, I wish I could be there to see your face.”

“I’m about to have such a rough time.” He chuckled and hurried to grab her some clean clothes. “I don’t know why I think that’s so funny.”

“Perhaps because it’s been so long since it happened,” Rose suggested while changing Abby’s outfit. The Doctor carefully slid her bottoms and knickers down and Rose spared a moment to give him a grateful look. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. Let’s hurry up in here so we can get Jenny in charge of the controls and you into the room. God knows you don’t want to be in labor all day, though with what I just gave you, we both know it won’t be a long labor.”

“Something I am very grateful for, I can tell you. Good thinking setting up our own delivery room. I’m never going to another hospital. Not after what happened with Sarah and Gibby.”

The Doctor swiftly focused only on sliding clean knickers up her legs, ones she would be wearing long enough to say goodbye to her children. He could feel Rose staring at him.

“I maintain I did no wrong. That woman was an idiot.”

“She was worried about me and the twins.”

“She implied I was an abusive, controlling bastard _and_ that I was an idiot!”

“Uh, she was trying to make sure I didn’t need any help. You didn’t bother hiding the fact you were the only doctor I’d seen during my pregnancy, even though I _told you_ humans would be a little concerned about the perceived lack of medical care I’d gotten. Least at that hospital.”

“Hmm. Yes, well, she didn’t need to call the police.”

“You threw my tele through the window. I don’t blame her.”

He grimaced. “To be fair, she _had_ just threatened to keep me from seeing my newborn children and my wife.”

“In response to you hovering and trying to force the doctor to care for me and the twins as you saw fit.”

“I was simply ensuring he didn’t accidentally murder our newborns by giving them something fatal.”

Rose snickered. “It was already in their charts. Now stop pouting. Soon as I’m done with Abby, I need to change into my gown and then we need to get Jenny going. Have you seen Bryonn?”

The Doctor’s brows furrowed and he briefly looked up to the ceiling.

“Uh, last I saw him, he was… helping Harry repair the damage to our cooker.”

“We need to stop letting Jenny cook, Doctor. She’s never gonna learn and I’ve accepted that. Now she needs to do the same.”

“It wasn’t that bad.” He couldn’t quite meet her eye. “But I agree. No more lessons for her.”

“Good,” Rose sighed. “Oh. We need to hurry, Doctor.”

He watched her breathe heavily for a moment and then went into a frenzy finishing up Abby’s outfit change, getting Rose into her gown, and herding their children to the control room.

“Alright,” he announced. “Best behavior, you lot.”

“Or else,” Rose added. “Give Mummy hugs.”

“Alright, Jen, go ahead and send Abby through.”

“Ben,” Rose said quietly, “remember to take it easy on your father. He’s already going to be in shock at how similar you two look. Don’t make that worse by teasing him. He’s having a rough time right now.”

“Fine,” Ben huffed and shot him a look. The Doctor paused in positioning Abby as she appeared all those many years ago and narrowed his eyes.

“I know you’re lying to your mother,” he said before glancing at Rose. “I have that memory. Your son was a-”

“Don’t insult my son.”

The Doctor snorted. “He was a brat and I can say that, because he’s my son, too, you know.”

“Obviously. Looks like he fell outta you, not me.”

“Ewww,” Ben groaned. “Jen, can you just send me to my point in time _right now_ please? Before I vomit everywhere.”

Giggling to herself and doing her best to ignore Bryonn grinning and lightly elbowing her in the side, Jenny pressed a button and little Abby blinked out of existence. As he was nodding to give the okay to send Ben through, his gaze on Charlie, Rose let out a small sound of distress. The Doctor looked away from Charlie, who was tugging at his trousers, and saw her hunched form.

“Jenny, Bryonn,” he said, casting them quick glances. “Can you handle this lot? I don’t think Mum can wait until everyone’s gone.”

“Go. We’ve got this,” Bryonn assured him, waving him on. “Get her set up. It won’t take too long to get everybody sent to their right point in time. Once Jenny’s gone, I’ll come back and help.”

“Hurry and be good, you lot, or Mummy will have to deal with you.”

“Mummy loves you,” Rose called. “Be good for Daddy.”

“Good luck, Mum,” Jenny yelled back. “Okay, Charlie boo…”

By the time they made it to her birthing room, the Doctor was positive she was going to give birth much faster than even they had estimated using their memories of the children’s arrivals, her rescue, and the return of their children to their current time.

Several minutes later, right around the time he’d gotten Rose set up and ready to push whenever the time came, Bryonn came rushing into the room and the Doctor gave him a grateful look.

“First birth here, as you know,” his son-in-law said nervously. “What do I do?”

“I’ve already gotten her ready but I need to finish setting up this equipment. Can you hold her hand?”

“Anything. Mum?”

Rose grabbed his hand and the Doctor winced sympathetically. Poor boy.

“Turn on the monitor. I know you set it up so I can make sure nothing changes.”

“I’d say nothing will,” Bryonn said, smiling a little, “but apparently Benny wasn’t even supposed to be born.”

“Mmm.” Rose twisted away from Bryonn and gave him a dirty look. “Yes and I thought we’d agreed not to tell him that, Doctor, but you just had to volunteer to give him The Talk, didn’t you?”

“I have already apologized for – Actually, I don’t think I did. Sorry?”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky you’re such a fantastic lay or I’d find someone less annoying.” Bryonn laughed loudly and the Doctor shook his head, shooting him an amused look. “Okay, maybe not. I do dream about kicking you in the bum sometimes, though.”

“Love you.”

“Love you, too,” she said seriously, all traces of teasing leaving her face. “Now hurry with all that.”

He nodded and rushed to get everything else ready to go as quickly as he dared. He briefly glanced over and saw Rose watching the monitor, her hands on her tummy and her breathing deep and steady. Another contraction, it seemed. Curious, he looked at the monitor and saw himself gaping at Ben.

He grinned and remembered the day he’d been born. Rose had been so grumpy that she’d been in labor for so long and then the baby ended up looking like him. She loved that _now_ but perhaps not after ten hours of active labor. Ick.

“Better be taking notes, Bryonn,” Rose gasped, “because you’re gonna be back in here in about eight months and you’re gonna wanna know what you’re doing.”

Rose chuckled breathlessly and Bryonn gave both of them an unbelievably apprehensive look. The Doctor laughed and paused to give Bryonn a warm smile.

“Relax, my boy. I'm sure we have more time than that because even if Jenny gets pregnant today, which I am most certainly not going to think about in any way, since you’re human, she will still need a full forty wee-” The Doctor went utterly still as Rose’s words and what they truly meant hit him. He looked between Rose and Bryonn with wide, wide eyes before scowling at his son-in-law. “I'm not done having children yet! I thought you and Jenny wanted to wait to have children of your own. What happened to that?”

Though looking pained, Rose managed a real laugh and grabbed hold of him with her free hand.

“Honey, _sweetie_ , they’ve already been married seventeen years and Bryonn’s human. I would have wanted to have children ages ago if I’d been him. Just because they start having children doesn’t mean we’ll have to stop. Not by a long shot.”

Quickly thinking through everything and concluding she was absolutely right, the Doctor inhaled through his nose, hummed as he exhaled, and then nodded. She was right. A gleeful smile came to his lips as he remembered his grandsons and looked at Rose to see her expression. Though the pain of her progressing labor was obvious, her incredible amusement was almost as noticeable.

He laughed happily, gave Bryonn a smile that set him completely at ease once more, and clapped a hand on his back.

“Oh, my boy. I'm so happy for you two.”

“Really? Jenny’s gonna be so happy to hear that. We’ve been worrying about how to tell you guys about – No, how did you know, Mum?”

Rose cocked her head. “A mother knows.”

“Right.” The Doctor nodded when Bryonn looked at him. His Rose was nigh magical and he’d stopped questioning that long ago. “So this… is a good thing, Mum? Dad? You’re not gonna freak out in about a day or two when you’ve had time to think about it?”

“Not at all.” The Doctor’s smile widened to what must be a comical size and he briefly squeezed Bryonn’s shoulder. “I’ve told you before that Rose and I have already met two of your children.”

“Ah, so you knew one would be on the way at some point.”

The Doctor laughed outright.

“Oh, no. No, my dear boy.” Bryonn frowned at him and looked at Rose briefly before his gaze came back to him. “No, I'm thrilled. I swear it. No, frankly, I can’t wait to meet _your_ _twins_.”

He gave Bryonn a wide, wide smile that likely displayed most of his teeth. He was sure of it. The panicked look he saw on Bryonn’s face in the brief moment before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he hit the floor like a bag of potatoes was payback enough for impregnating his daughter, he supposed. He’d be getting grandchildren out of the whole thing, after all, so that was good enough. Rose was chuckling even as he was stepping over the inert form of his son-in-law.

“That wasn’t very nice.”

“Thank you for letting me be the one to tell him.” He grinned and she looked over the side of the bed as well as she could. “Be careful. I’ll check him in a moment to make sure he’s okay. Lord knows I don’t actually want any harm to come to him. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. Is it time to use the Phinartok?”

“Bless that epidural.”

“Bless the people of Egwennklelarop.”

“Yep, the planet, too. It’s close but not yet.”

“I'm trusting you’ll know the exact right moment.”

Rose snorted. “Done this a time or two. Think I can figure out the perfect moment for it, sweetie.”

“Good.” The Doctor pressed a kiss to her lips and then smiled. “Lemme check our son-in-law and then I'm all yours.”

“Currently sharing you with eleven other people.” Rose paused and gave him a sweet smile. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

No, he wouldn’t, either.

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have another cute, fun reunion fic! I really hope you all enjoyed this! Thank you so much for taking the time to read it. 
> 
> XX Jaspre Rose


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